


Of Plight and Boon

by DeityofLostSouls



Series: Soulful Saga [1]
Category: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Resurrection, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 14:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 52,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeityofLostSouls/pseuds/DeityofLostSouls
Summary: As far as the Ronins are concerned they are retired, the only threats in their life now is passing their exams or simply moving on with life. Set two(2) years after the Ronin Message OVA can the boys move on with their lives or will a new Reign threaten the existence of their world once again? Reviews are appreciated!





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a story that I had published previously in 2014 on a different website. The series is ongoing and I am currently working on the third installment to the sage.

"You have disappointed Lord Talpa yet again, Shōkōjo." The young general stated, his samurai armor rattled as he walked into the room. His sword was sheathed at his side but his hand rested on it ready for a fight and his dark green eyes, which resembled the dark green of forest moss, glared at the girl before him.

The girl had eyes that matched the soldier's in color and intensity as she kneeled before him on a ground of dirt, dust, and dried blood. The room they were in was round and had only a single rounded hole directly in the middle of the ceiling that shone a single beam of light down. However, she wouldn't be able to look up to see the sky though since she was shackled against the wall. The man stayed away from the light, as if he was trying to avoid it.

"Perhaps, it is for the best." She hissed as she worked at the shackle around her wrist again, the pain from where her skin had been rubbed bloody and raw no longer bothered her it was numb like her emotions.

"You know he will forgive you if you will only listen to him and pledge your allegiance." The general insisted his eyes light up briefly at the mention of his master.

After a brief blank stare the girl began to laugh, "I will never pledge my allegiance to him, not after I have found out the truth!"

The general glared once again and kicked a small pile of dirt towards the girl where it hit her in the face. She turned away for a moment to wipe her face against her ripped kimono sleeve as best she could with her limited mobility. At the same moment her stomach growled, she scowled at its betrayal.

Quickly though, she found herself out of breath as she was suddenly ripped from the ground by the collar. Her arms were forced back by the chained shackles and she grimaced at the feeling of her shoulders straining from the stretch.

"You have been in here for a few weeks, Shōkōjo; you will die of starvation if not from the torture. You are weak."

She simply gave him a sarcastic look, "you spit as you speak, and do you know that?"

With a growl the general threw the frail girl to the ground once more. She felt her bruised rib crack a little as she hit a small rock upon impact.

"Fine. I hope you die."

"Thanks for acting as if you cared." The girl replied watching carefully as the general left the room as she grimaced back into a sitting position.

Once she was sure he was gone she curled into a ball and let her shoulders shake but no tears came down her face. They were dried up at this point, as was her will to live.

However, as she sat in the dark silence she suddenly heard an echoing whisper, almost a soft melody.

"Great, now I'm hallucinating." She whispered into her knees.

Then the sound came again, this time she looked up. In front of her sat a small creature, no bigger than her own fist, it waivered before her as the light did from the ceiling.

"Hello kodama." She whispered, "Have you come to take my spirit away?" She asked.

The kodama didn't speak back but simply waved it's arms towards the ceiling and the light that came through it. The girl looked up then back at the ceiling.

"You are a funny thing. Do you think I could honestly get up there? I can't even stand on my own legs. And, if you haven't noticed, I'm shackled." She told it.

The kodama indicated the ceiling with more urgency.

"I cannot move kodama." The girl hissed getting annoyed.

The kodama suddenly moved as if it were part of the wind and went to the girl's shackles. Each one seemed to magically open. The girl stared at the little kodama as it then moved away from her and towards the light.

The girl felt her stiff body whine as she began to drag her way to the light to where the kodama was. Her muscles felt twisted, and she felt the dirt get into her wounds on her wrists but she kept going. Once in the light she lay on her back then turned her head to the kodama.

"What now?" She asked it.

"Now, we get you out." Someone said.

The girl's head snapped to look up through the hole. Far above her through the hole she saw two men standing, they both wore the uniforms of the Ancient clan.

"You came." The girl said as she felt the first burning hot tears she had in the last several days.

"Sorry it took us a while, we got a little detoured." The man who spoke before said as he and his partner lowered a looped rope.

A few minutes later the girl struggled to get the rope wrapped around her shoulders like a back then tugged on it to signal she was ready to go. The kodama disappeared as she began to be lifted to the opening above.


	2. Chapter 2

Rowen woke up with a start; he nearly jumped out of his bed. He was immediately met with the laughter of his friend, Kento.

"C'mon man, get up. You're going to sleep the entire day away!" Kento said as he waved the blow horn he had set off around in the air.

Rowen glared at his friend and grabbed the book nearest to his bed to throw at him, but paused when a tall blonde boy appeared in the doorway.

"You're going to piss off our neighbors, Kento." Sage said with a sigh from the door. "Rowen put the book down. We're going to all be late for class at this rate."

It had been six years since they had first become the Ronin Warriors, and two years since they had received their new armors from the spirit of Suzunagi. The boys were now all living on the edge of Tokyo's downtown. Rowen and Sage rented their own two bedroom apartment while Kento, Cye, and Ryo lived in three bedroom apartment a floor above.

Rowen, Ryo, Sage and Cye were attending the city university and were now beginning their final year of undergraduate studies. Meanwhile, Kento, who was taking night classes, worked full time in his family's restaurant preparing to one day take over the business from his family.

Ryo had been playing with the idea of taking a break from school for the last several months. When he wasn't working at the university as Mia's assistant he would go out to the woods with White Blaze and get lost for a few days.

Ryo's behavior was something all the boys found in common for them since Suzunagi. They began to all prefer to be alone more often than around each other, or just people in general. Mia would often lecture them, telling them it's because they were veterans of a war now, they experience things no one ever did or ever will and they need time to understand and come to terms with it.

She had even advised the boys to "find someone to talk to," Sage and Kento immediately scoffed and ignored the advice. They insisted there was no one to talk to since they had to keep the secret of them saving the world several times to themselves. Rowen, Cye, and Ryo would, instead, occasionally met up with one another and just talk about their memories of Talpa and all the foes they faced since they were 16. It helped, but they still felt weighed down by the past. In fact, they all had dreams and nightmares of their battles.

Shaking off his thoughts Rowen got up as Kento left the room with Sage so that he could get ready. He quickly made his way to his en suite bathroom to freshen up and change into a pair of jeans and a blue hoodie. Once he was ready he grabbed his leather satchel bag and went into the living room to catch up with Sage and Kento. They were going to grab breakfast at the local cafe before Sage and Rowen headed to class and Kento to work.

The cafe they went to was a small set up and featured coffee in the mornings and tempura in the afternoon. It was common place for students to meet up, it was split into two floors with a more active social scene on the main floor with a small stage for acoustic performances and a more quiet second floor for people who preferred to go there to read, study, or relax. It also had outdoor seating that offered a great sight of the Tokyo tower in the distance, however since it was late autumn the boys opted to take a table inside, on the second floor near the back corner where it was most quiet.

"Where's Cye this morning?" Sage asked Kento sipping from his cup of coffee.

"He said something about going swimming." Kento replied with a shrug. "He's been going to Okutama a lot lately."

"Have you heard from Ryo?" Rowen asked as he lightly spread cream cheese on his bagel.

Kento shook his head, "no, not yet, I'm sure he'd call us though if there was trouble."

Ryo had left again to be alone the Thursday before, it was Monday now, but they weren't worried about their unofficial leader of the group getting into trouble these days. It had been quiet for the last two years, something they treated with relief.

The boys went silent as they sipped at their coffee and ate their breakfast in understood silence.

"How's Ully?" Kento asked Sage suddenly, Sage had been the young boy's personal kendo coach for years now.

"Good." Sage said with a nod, "he's off to the national kendo championship this week, I signed off to help request time off of school for him. He's turning 15 soon in a few weeks too, he can't wait says he'll soon be the age we were when we met him."

The boys stayed silent at the comment, none of them could find the words of the almost jealousy that despite Ully being a part of many of their adventures that he still got to have an almost completely normal life compared to theirs.

They finished their breakfast discussing more menial things like new music, books, and weather. Once they finished Sage and Rowen wished farewell to Kento and they headed towards the university campus.

Rowen spaced out as they walked, letting himself daydream again. He wasn't thinking of anything in particular he just let his mind wander.

Suddenly though he reached out and grabbed Sage's bicep.

"Whoa, what's up man?" Sage asked looked at Rowen and pulling his arm from his friend's fierce grip.

"I… I thought I saw… nothing… never mind, I'm sorry." Rowen muttered as he shrank into his hoodie.

"No, what?" Sage asked looking around, he didn't see anything but the usually crowds of people walking to their jobs or schools.

Rowen sighed; he couldn't lie to his friend. "I thought I saw a warlord."

"Rowen." Sage said with a sigh, "c'mon man, we both know they're all gone, they don't exist anymore."

"I know, I know, I did say never mind, didn't I?" Rowen said a little cross.

Sage gave his friend a pat on the back, "no big deal, you're probably just still waking up. You have never been a morning person."

"Probably," Rowen muttered.

Far above them atop a nearby business high rise stood a man in black armor that was trimmed with silver that glinted in the sunlight. He looked uncomfortable with his surroundings yet familiar.

"Report." A female voice said from behind him.

The man turned to look at the woman who was walking up to him. She wore dull golden armor and no helmet; her long light brown hair flowed behind her in the wind.

"They seem to no longer be inseparable ma'am, just like we had hoped. They are worn down and weak compared to how they were six years ago." The man stated smoothly his deep voice rumbled as he spoke.

"Good." The woman replied as she reached the edge of the building and looked down at the crowds below.

"Do we move now ma'am?" The man asked.

"No, Morpheus, be patient. We will soon, but the time must be perfect. We must wait until Strata and Halo separate. They must not unite again."

"Yes, lady Yuki." Morpheus said with a bow.


	3. Chapter 3

Rowen ran along his usual path in the park near his apartment building. The sound of traditional Japanese music filled his ears as he jogged past other patrons of the park.

It was near the end of the day, the sky above was just beginning to turn into the colors of the coming sunset, and the air was cool from autumn. When Ryo was around Rowen would go running with him at the end of every day, but he found himself running alone a lot more lately.

Near the center of the park Rowen slowed to give a bow at the entrance of a Torii gate before continuing at a slow jog on the right side of the path until he approached the Shinto shrine.

Looking around Rowen saw he was alone in the fading light of day. He walked over to purification trough and with his right hand he picked up the water scoop to wash his left hand then switched to wash his right hand. He then used his right hand again to scoop another ladle of water into his left hand and washed his mouth quickly. Once he was done with that he moved on to the shrine where he tossed a few coins into the offer box, rang the bell, bowed twice before silently making a wish with his eyes closed. He clapped his hands twice to signal he was done with his wish and bowed one more time.

Once he was done with the ritual he made a deep sigh and looked up to the sky. It was turning purple now, he would be able to see stars soon. He enjoyed looking up into the night sky, perhaps it was one of the only good memories he had from the Ronin's battling Talpa, being among the stars in the sky.

However, he was interrupted when he suddenly felt like he was being watched. Snapping into focus he turned around sharply expecting to see someone standing off in the shadows, but no one was around.

"Who's there?" he called out, but nothing answered him. "Kento, is that you? This isn't funny, man."

Rowen stood still waiting for something to happen, sound, movement, anything. After a minute or two Rowen decided he was just being paranoid and tried to shake the feeling off. He rolled his shoulders then made a move to jog out the area.

A bright flash of silver went in front of Rowen's face. Rowen barely avoided the graze of a sword as he flipped out of the way.

"What the-" Rowen started as he landed in a crouch, less than ten feet away from him stood a man in black armor that was trimmed with silver.

"Good dodge, Strata, it is good to see that you have not lost your reflexes at least." He man said, his voice was deep and rumbled as he spoke.

"Who are you?" Rowen asked, his hand hovered over hoodie pocket where both his cell phone and armor orb stayed hidden. Normally, he left his orb in the drawer of his nightstand, but after thinking he saw something earlier that day he felt the need to carry it that evening, now he was grateful for it. However, he hoped he wouldn't need it, like his fellow Ronins he hadn't worn the armor since Suzunagi had given it to him.

"I am Morpheus of Famine, I am the general of the Nether World's army."

"That's impossible, the Nether World had been defeated. Talpa and his cronies are gone."

Morpheus smirked, "that is what we wanted you to think. It is true Talpa and his warlords are gone, but now the new Emperor of the Nether World has taken his throne and he has a message for you Ronin Warriors."

"Yea? And what is that?" Rowen demanded.

"Die." Morpheus replied before disappearing into the shadows.

"What?" Rowen asked taken aback. From behind him he suddenly heard the whoosh of a sword cutting through the air. He turned as quickly as he could to try to avoid the sword but he saw it was coming right at him, dead on.

Suddenly, another flash of light joined the sword, it knocked the blade to the side. Morpheus swore as he tried to regain his grip on his weapon.

When Rowen looked to see what hit his sword he saw what looked like a hand fan on the ground. He then switched his eyes to the source of where the object came from.

Walking out of the shadows came a silent shape of a smaller person who wore a long brown cloak. As a light breeze came through the trees he saw a glimpse of what looked like gray and light purple armor underneath the cloak.

Morpheus swore again as he too spotted the newest guest.

"You." He growled.

"Hello, Morpheus. I suggest you get out of here before I leave your master with one less soldier." The voice was of a girl, it held a calm authority.

Morpheus glare intensified, "you have no business here."

"The Ronins ARE my business." She insisted as she unfolded a second hand fan with a fluid twitch of her wrist.

"Night Crawler!" Morpheus suddenly declared, what looked like black snakes radiated off the warlord general's sword as he swung it in the girl's direction.

"Soul Riser!" The girl summoned her power and flung the fan at Morpheus, which Rowen then realized that the folds in the fan were actually sharp blades.

The girl dodge the sword, but only barely, the blade managed to cut part of her cloak. Meanwhile, the fan weapon hit it's target head on and cut Morpheus across the chest before it returned to its owner's hand.

Morpheus hissed and fell to a knee, he looked up to the girl.

"I will tell Emperor Zetsumei of your presence, Riska."

"Do that." She said before doing a turning kick at the Nether World General as he disappeared in a spiral of shadows.

Rowen stared at the place Morpheus was just at, then looked at the girl who the warlord had called "Riska."

"Now, who are you? I appreciate your help, but I'd rather know who had saved me." He said finding his voice again.

"Where are the others?" Riska asked quickly picking up her original razor fan she had thrown at Morpheus to divert his blade from Rowen.

"I don't even know who you are, let alone if I should trust you." Rowen insisted.

"I need you to trust me, at least until we have time for an interview. Rowen of Strata, where are the other Ronins?" She asked more urgently.

"I.. I don't know. Kento is at his family's restaurant, Sage is at home, Cye is at Okutama, and Ryo is probably in the woods on Mt. Fuji." Rowen answered as quickly as he could sensing the panic in Riska's voice.

"Come, we must hurry, your friends are in trouble." She said grabbing Rowen's wrist and leading him through the trees of the park at a run.

As they ran Rowen noticed the sky above was no longer the purple of a sunset, it now looked like a burning orange, something was unnatural about it.

"What is going on?" he asked softly, not expecting for Riska to answer.

"The emperor of the Nether World has decided it is time for him to show his face."

"But, how? We destroyed Talpa for good."

"It isn't Talpa, it's his successor." She released his wrist now that she was sure he would follow her.

They ran out into the streets of Tokyo where people were pausing staring up in the sky, the feeling tense expectation was everywhere.

"Who?" Rowen asked catching up with Riska to run by her side, he pointed to the right to lead to his apartment building.

"Emperor Zetsumei." Riska replied with evident distaste.

"Why now?"

"He and his warlords are convinced you and the other Ronins are at your weakest. They have heard of your new armors and the potential of powers they hold. All of the Yōkai world has heard of them."

"So he wants our armors too then?" Rowen almost rolled his eyes from how predictable the prospect was.

"No, he wishes to destroy the armors and all of you with them. That way he can take over this dimension without any trouble and finally rule the world as he sees fit."

"I'm confused, wouldn't he want our armors BECAUSE of the powers they hold?"

They had made it to the apartment building, running inside they avoided the elevators which were on the fritz from the electric storm that had formed outside. People in the lobby were gazing outside as their phones suddenly became useless to them. Rowen and Riska went directly to the stairs to climb up to Rowen and Sage's floor. Rowen thanked his stars that he only lived on the fourth floor with Sage.

"It is difficult to explain, our mission is to find the other Ronins first then I will explain everything." Riska stated in a finalizing tone, it was clear she was focused at the task at hand.

Once on fourth floor both people froze and looked at the destruction. Wooden splinters and shattered glass lay on the floor creating a path directly to Rowen and Sage's apartment. Down the hallway there was a broken window that once looked out into the street below.

"Sage!" Rowen yelled and ran towards his apartment where his friend was supposed to be.

"Rowen, wait!" Riska yelled running after the blue haired boy.

Rowen paused in his apartment's doorway looking at everything inside. The whole place looked torn apart, he couldn't help but think how if Kento saw this he would say something about Rowen and Sage not getting their security deposit back.

"Sage?" Rowen called as he carefully stepped into the apartment, he tried his best to ignore the spots of blood scattered around the apartment. He could only hope it didn't belong to Sage. Rowen heard as Riska walked inside behind him, she was nearly silent except for when her armored feet stepped on the glass.

"Sage!" Rowen called looking into his friend's bedroom and only saw Sage's bed flipped over and papers all over the room instead.

Rowen sighed, Sage was gone, at least that's what he thought until he heard movement from his own room. He made movement to go there next but Riska stopped him.

"Wait, you do not have a weapon. Let me go first, in case it is a trap." She whispered to him. Rowen nodded and let Riska take the lead. She slipped a dagger out of the holster that was on her right outer thigh.

Upon reaching the door Riska poised herself then quickly kicked the door open. In an instant she found herself defending herself against a wooden kendo sword with her dagger's blunt side.

"Sage!" Rowen called relieved to see his friend and trying to stop him from attacking the mysterious girl at the same time.

"Rowen?" Sage questioned at seeing his friend, he quickly backed away from Riska. "You're here, what is going on, who is this?"

Sage spoke quickly as he shook off his nerves and pushed his blond hair out of his face, except for the hair that covered his right eye.

"Yea, umm, this is uh, Riska?" Rowen said unsure indicating to Riska who looked impatient. It was really the first time he got a good look at her in the light.

Riska had long black hair that seemed undisturbed by all the action, she was close to Rowen's height and looked physically young but from the glint in her eyes she seemed to be older than she appeared. Speaking of her eyes, they were a striking green color, so green that looked like could match the green of the moss in the forest.

Rowen didn't realized how long he had gazed at Riska taking in her appearance until he heard her groan with impatience.

"We don't have time for introductions, but if you insist." She said to Rowen then turned to look both at him and Sage, "I am Riska Takashi of the Souls armor. I am here to assist you, and the rest of the Ronin Warriors."

"Souls armor? Assist us, how?" Sage asked suspiciously.

"Do you all ask so many questions, I do not like to repeat myself and I know I will have to reintroduce myself later when everyone else is gathered. I am to assist you all with fighting the Nether World, that is all you need to know for now. I am on your side, and I wish we leave before more Nether soldiers come here to finish what they started and risk not only wasting time fighting them but also losing the others." She explained quickly.

Sage looked at her coldly for a moment longer before nodding, "fine, but I want to know more as soon as we can." he told her.

"Agreed." Rowen said.

Riska nodded agreeing to the terms before turning the way they came to get out of the apartment building. She could sense the enemy was close and she didn't want them any closer.

"Where to next?" She asked the boys.

"Descendants of the Dragon Restaurant, to get Kento." Rowen replied.


	4. Chapter 4

Kento was clearing off the tables near the window when began to notice people moving down the street and pointing off to the south. He raised an eyebrow as he placed a few more plates in his dish bin.

"Wonder what they're all staring at." He said to himself.

Wiping his hands on his apron he approached the window and instantly gasped at seeing the sky a blur of blood red, yellow, and orange. It was darkening into the dark blue of night only a moment before.

"What the-?"

"Kento, get those dishes to the kitchen and finish setting the tables. We have more dinner rush moving through." His mother called to him from the hostess station in Chinese.

Kento barely heard her as he watched something large fly across the sky. Quickly, he turned the from the window, abandoning the dish bin to go out front. From behind him his mother was shouting protests along with a few other choice words.

Outside Kento stared up at the sky with the crowds around him. Whispers of what the sky could mean were around him.

"Probably electrical disruption from a sun ray."

"Northern lights? Here?"

"Maybe there's a fire somewhere."

No, it was none of those things, Kento though. He could feel in his gut it was something much more sinister.

Suddenly cries of surprise and fear surrounded him as the large object from below suddenly swooped down and came straight at Kento.

"Whoa!" Kento yelled and back flipped out of the way. The object slowed, turned then aimed for Kento's family's restaurant.

Without a second thought Kento barreled through the doors, pushing people as he went. Once inside he grabbed his mother's hand, who was still yelling at him, and dragged her with to the back kitchens. At the same time he heard the front window shatter from the dark object that attacked him crashing through.

"Everyone stay back here and hide!" Kento ordered his parents, siblings, along with the other kitchen staff. Outside the kitchen Kento could here he screams and cries of the patrons as they ran out of the way of the dark visitor.

"Shuu, what is going on?" his mother asked hugging Kento's youngest sister close. He didn't get to answer though.

"Kento of Hardrock, come out of hiding and fight like a man." A shrill voice said from the main dining room.

"Hide." Kento hissed one more time at the staring faces. Slowly he turned, taking off his apron as he did, and went to the door that would lead him to his unknown enemy. With a deep breath he pulled his orb from his pocket then pushed the door open and he stepped through.

On the other side stood a tall man in gray armor with a worn gray cape attached to it. His helmet face mask slid open revealing a crooked grin.

"Hello, Kento." He said.

"Who are you? A Nether rat?" Kento asked rolling his orb in his hand.

The stranger's eyes lit with anger, "I am Enkidu of War. I am part of the army of the Nether world empire."

"Right, like I said, a Nether rat." Kento said with a bored tone.

"Silence Ronin swine!"

"Oh, ho! Now who's calling who names?"

Enkidu roared with annoyance and Kento suddenly found himself dodging a gray energy orb that Enkidu released from his hand.

"What the hell?" Kento questioned staring at the new hole that was in the wall directly behind where he had stood only a moment ago. His eyes then turned to Enkidu, who once again had a dumb grin on his face.

"You Ronins are not the only ones with new power."

Kento pulled his armor orb out of his pocket and readied it in his hand, looks like he was going to need a bit of help.

As if someone read his mind Kento watched at Enkidu was suddenly hit with a large glass rice bowl that had been sitting on one of the tables near the window. Both men turned their heads to see the source of where the bowl came from.

Sage and Rowen stood side by side just inside the restaurant where they climbed in through the window.

"Guys!" Kento yelled flooding with relief.

"More Ronins, good, it will be easier to kill you together and please my master." Enkidu laughed seemingly pleased with himself.

"Not so fast warlord."

Enkidu's smile was quickly replaced with a snarl as he turned to look behind him. Kento now stood beside Riska, Hardrock jumped not realizing that she was beside him at first.

"Shōkōjo." Enkidu hissed.

"Leave Enkidu before something bad happens to you. I would hate to send you back to your master defeated and missing a finger."

"Your threats are empty to me Shōkōjo. Now move out of my way."

Riska stepped in front of Kento with a challenging glare.

"Very well, we'll do this the hard way." Enkidu moved quicker than the Ronins could see but Riska reacted just as quickly.

Kento was pushed back against the wall with such force the tiles on the wall cracked. He watched in awe as Riska matched the warlord's blow for blow with her short sword against his long sword.

With quick precision and foot movement Riska lured Enkidu towards the window where Sage and Rowen hastily got out of the way as the mysterious girl finally got the warlord outside onto the streets.

Outside people ran quickly down the streets to get away from the city. The sky above was burst of oranges, reds, and yellows the colors lit the ground with an eerie glow. What stars did make it out in the sky were now being choked out of sight by large black billowing clouds that rolled into view with furiousity. Streets lights flickered on, which only revealed the Nether spirits who were chasing the citizens of Tokyo with glee.

People seemed to divide around the fight without looking twice at it. It was something that most had seen or heard of before. And all they were concentrating on was escaping.

"Sage! Rowen! Kento!" A young adolescent's voice came that cracked with puberty.

The boys took their eyes off the fight before them for a moment to see Yulie running up to them desperate to reach his friends against the flow of escaping panicked people.

"Yulie! What you doing? Why are you coming towards the fight, you should be going the other way!" Rowen yelled over the noise once Yulie reached them.

The boy shook his head, his shaggy brown hair brushed over his eyes.

"I came to fight with you again. It's the Nether World, they're back!"

"We noticed." Sage said tilting his head towards the fight between Enkidu and Riska.

"Who's that?" Yulie asked staring at the girl fighting the warlord.

"Good question, who IS that?" Kento emphasized.

"No time, just someone to help. Yulie, you have to leave, you can't stay here." Rowen insisted.

"No, I want to help, like last time."

"This isn't a game Yulie!" Sage yelled making the boy jump he looked at his sensei with large round eyes. "We can't protect you like last time, we can barely protect ourselves."

"Hey!" Kento snapped which was only received with a look from both Rowen and Sage.

"Kento, Sage, c'mon. Riska and that warlord are heading towards the city center. We need to keep them in our sights." Rowen said grabbing Kento's arm and dragging him along down the street towards the fight.

Sage turned to join them but stopped and caught Yulie by the arm.

"Ah! Sage, please, let me help."

Sage shook his head and looked up in time to see a bus coming towards them with refuges on it. With one hand on Yulie's bicep and his other hand raised in the air Sage flagged the bus down until it stopped for them.

Sage turned to Yulie, he didn't need to kneel to talk to him anymore, the boy was shoulder high to him now.

"Yulie." Sage said delicately. "You need to go with the refuges and protect them. You've been through this before with us, you know what to expect from the Nether Realm, they don't. You need to become their leader."

"But…"

"C'mon little dude, I know they'll be in safe hands with you. And in the mean time we'll kick the Nether Realms butt… again."

After a moment Yulie nodded with a new found determination in his eyes.

"Ok, but you have to promise to come get me as soon as you need me." Yulie insisted.

Sage smiled and ruffled Yulie's hair.

"Of course." He turned Yulie around and pushed him up onto the bus. "Now go."

Yulie watched Sage as the bus doors closed and the vehicle moved on to escape the city. He knew it was better for Yulie to sit out this time, he had a feeling that the fight was going to be harder than what it was with Talpa.


	5. Chapter 5

The city center was silent as was the rest of the city. No one was in the streets, not even animals. The birds that had flocked in the skies and the rodents that lived in the alleys had either fled or hid just like their human counterparts. The power in the city had long gone out from damage that the Nether Realm had caused. Occasionally in the distance you could hear a piece of a building falling from where chunks were taken out from a battle that ended just over an hour before.

Tucked away in between the shelves of the downtown public library Rowen carefully made his way towards the back corner of the third floor. He stayed away from the windows where he knew a Nether Spirit would be looking into.

Once he made it to the abandoned rows storage cabinets filled with dusty microfiche he finally caught up with the small huddles group consisting of his brothers in arms and the new girl, Riska.

Riska sat silently in the darkened corner where she cradled her leg with a surprising calm. In her battle with Enkidu the warlord had managed to cut her deeply on her thigh.

Rowen placed rolls of athletic wrap and squares of gauze in front of her then kneeled. Behind him Sage was quickly going over what details he knew of what was going on according to what Riska had told them.

"How is it?" Rowen asked Riska softly, he didn't try to reach out to touch her, he had a feeling she wouldn't accept his help.

"I've had worse." Riska replied as she grabbed the gauze and began to clean up her cut before bandaging it.

Rowen sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"What now?" Kento asked popping his head over Rowen's shoulder.

Riska looked up at Kento with sharp dark green eyes which caused Hardrock to back up a little.

"We must find the other Ronins, before the Nether Realm does."

"They're not in the city." Sage replied.

Riska shook her head, "the Nether Realm's reach is much larger than before. They've spread across all of Japan and in pockets around the world."

"Wait, what, how?" Kento asked surprised.

"The new Nether Realm lord is much stronger than Talpa ever was. He has been waiting centuries for this opportunity to show his power and get rid of all the Ronins. Unlike Talpa who struck whenever he felt like he had the power." Riska explained.

"Who is this new lord?" Sage asked.

Riska sighed, "I wanted to wait until you were all together again, but it seems like we must rush things against my will." She became silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "His name is Emperor Zetsumei and he was once a general for the Nether World, under Talpa and other demons that ruled that dimension."

"Zetsumei?" Rowen asked finally speaking up, "that means death, why am I sensing a pattern. Morpheus said he is of the Famine armor, Enkidu was of war. Are there others? What are their armors?"

"Wait, what pattern?" Kento asked confused.

Riska broke a crooked smirk.

"Your right Rowen, there is a pattern. And there is one other warlord, but also there is now a Gatekeeper."

"Gatekeeper?" All the Ronins asked.

"Hold on, one answer at a time." Riska insisted. "The other warlord is Matlal of the Pestilence armor."

"Plague." Rowen whispered.

Riska nodded and continued, "And finally there Lady Yuri she is the Gatekeeper of the Nether World. She is in charge of knowing who comes and goes through the gates of the Nether Realm and is the eyes and ears for Emperor Zetsumei."

The boys were silent as they took in the information.

"So… what IS the pattern?" Sage finally asked.

"Don't you know literature and myths at all?" Riska asked. "It's the apocalypse, Halo, the lord of the Nether Realm and his warlords are the four horsemen."

Enkidu swore as palace servants tended to him.

"What happened to you Enkidu? Lose another battle?" Morpheus scoffed at Enkidu's side.

"You can't say too much there Morpheus, I heard about your run in with Strata." A tall man with dirty blonde hair stepped into the room.

Morpheus snorted and the man, "What would you know Matlal? You haven't even been out there yet."

"Be patient, my opportunity is going to come soon, and when it does I will be more successful than either of you." Matlal insisted. "What DID happen you to Enkidu? You seemed to have the situation handled at first."

"Shōkōjo decided to show her face again and she got too close."

Matlal let out a snort, "she is of no threat. She never had been before."

"This time is different," Morpheus said with calmly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know why or how but she has changed."

"Enough talking." Came a female voice. The warlords fell silent and looked towards Lady Yuri as she came into the room. The maids scurried out of her way avoiding all eye contact. "The Ronins are on the move again. Matlal, the master has ordered that you take a turn at the Ronins."

Matlal grinned as he stood up tall with pride, "looks like it's my turn to show you how weak Shōkōjo and the other Ronins really are."

Morpheus and Enkidu glanced at each other dully as Yuri glared at the warlord for his cocky attitude.

"Go, warlord of pestilence." Yuri ordered once again.

Kento pulled up to his fellow warriors in the catering cargo van from his family's restaurant.

"Here's our ride." Hardrock said with a bright smile.

"Great. Now I'll smell like Lo Mein for weeks." Sage muttered getting into the front.

Rowen helped Riska climb into the empty back of the van, once inside she waved him off and sat on the floor. Rowen sat with his back to the front of the car between the driver and passenger seats.

"Where to?" Kento asked as he began to drive carefully out of the city.

"Cye, he should be at Okutama." Sage replied as he kept an eye on the skies for any signs of the Nether spirits or warlords.


	6. Chapter 6

Even though they were still near downtown Tokyo, Okotama always seemed to feel like a world away. Here the skies were just beginning the pastel watercolors of the coming sunrise and seemed to fight back at the impending clouds that surrounded the nearby city.

While Kento concentrated on the road the other Ronins glued their eyes on the water that ran alongside highway 411.

"Where could he be?" Rowen wondered aloud as he watched the shores of the water.

"Kento, try Ogouchi Shrine." Sage suggested, he fought the antsy feeling in the gut of his stomach. He had a feeling something was off. He kept looking around waiting to see some sign of life from the Nether Realm or his friend.

The water was lost to the sight of trees that encompassed the road up to the shrine. Riska was silent as she took in her surroundings.

"The water used to be lower and there were more shrines here, once." She whispered.

The other Ronins looked at her.

"Yea… after the dam was built the water flooded over the nine other shrines." Sage said.

"They were beautiful shrines." Riska said with a heavy sadness.

"How old are you Riska?" Kento asked with a raised eyebrow.

Riska snapped out of her thoughts as if realizing she was around others. "I… look there's the shrine." She said pointing ahead. "Stop here Kento." She told him softly as she was reaching to open the side sliding door before anyone could stop her.

Before the van came to a complete stop she jumped out of the van with an almost perfect landing. Sage caught her lifting her bad leg upon landing and shook off the pain that came from her wound. He raised an eyebrow in question but decided to bite his lip to prevent himself from saying anything.

When the other Ronins joined Riska she was looking around carefully and listening. There were no birds singing and she couldn't hear the crack of twigs that would signal rodents in the bushes.

"You should get your under armours on. We're not alone here." She told them.

Kento, Sage, and Rowen looked at each other hesitating.

Riska's eyes softened as she came to a realization, "none of you have worn it since Suzunagi gave it to you."

The boys looked at each other before Sage spoke up first, "we know she gave us the new armour after testing us to see if we're worthy of them. But, can you blame us for hesitating when our old armours just wanted power and almost made us lose our humanity?"

"Your new armours are different. They were not made from the body of evil, but from the hopes and dreams of the innocent." Riska replied shaking her head.

"I hardly see the suffering Suzunagi went through as innocent. How do you know so much about them anyway?" Rowen asked.

"Suzunagi came to me as well." Riska said sadly, "her soul had been wandering for so long, looking for revenge that wasn't hers. I guided her towards you all, I told her to see for herself if the Ronins were as she remembered or different. You surprised her with your dedication of virtues, and you passed her tests and in the process her spirit was healed and allowed to finally move on into the afterlife.

What you all discovered and what she told you is true. The armours will be with you until the end of your lives, they are not something that you can pass off or be rid of. Your old armours maybe gone but their essence had always been with you to deny them would be death." Riska took a deep breath then added, "To deny the armours would allow Zetsumei to win. Now, please, your friends are in trouble and I cannot fight alone."

Kento's hands became fists then released over and over again. He felt the acid of anger in his stomach.

_She knows Suzunagi, she sent her to us. She knows all about us and what we've been through but yet she wants us to keep fighting._

Sage rested a hand on Kento's shoulder in silence. When Kento looked to his friend he saw understanding in his eyes.

"We will find our friends first, Kento. Then… when we are all together again, we will get our answers." Sage told Kento before turning his face to Riska, "right?"

Riska nodded, "I swear it."

With a deep breath Sage stepped back and took out his orb. "Wisdom." He breathed.

A bright green light surrounded Sage until it disappeared and now showed Sage in his under armour.

Rowen followed, "life."

"Justice."

Once in their under armours the boys quickly stretched and re-familiarize their bodies to them. Riska also joined them in her own under armour of gray and light purple.

"We must split up to see if we can find Cye." Riska stated.

"Agreed. How about Kento and Rowen, you guys take the shore around the peninsula. Meanwhile, Riska and I will take the shrine." Sage said taking charge.

Kento nodded in agreement but Rowen gave his friend a calculated look. He was surprised to feel annoyed that he couldn't go with Riska, and didn't understand why. For some reason he felt the need to protect her. Finally, he simply nodded then began to walk in the direction of the water not waiting to see if Kento was following.

"So, Sage, why is it you wished to have me alone?" Riska asked as they approached the ancient shrine in front of them.

"I simply wanted to keep an eye on you. If you knew who Suzunagi was and what she did to us then how can I trust that you are truly here to help us? Did you know that when Rowen told her of the Inferno armour that she planned on making us call upon it so that she could destroy it and us with it?"

"That is fair. I do know that, unfortunately, but I wouldn't have sent her to you all if I did not think you could change her mind." Riska sighed as Sage shot her a glare. "I wish I could find the words to reassure you, but sometimes actions really do speak better than words." Riska spoke softly.

Sage was surprised that she wasn't more insulted or angered by his boldness, he was expecting more reaction from her other than compliance. This Riska-girl was different than anyone he had ever met.

"How's your leg?" Sage finally asked as he and Riska began to search around the shrine.

"It is fine. Like I said, I've had worse. Keep your concentration on trying to find your friends Halo, they are more important right now."

Sage nodded figuring she was trying to stay away from any topic about her specifically.

They searched in silence looking inside and out of the shrine, but they found nothing but dust and old offerings.

Only moments after they finished searching the shrine's main building though they heard a yell from the waterline, and then the sound of metal on metal.

Without further hesitation Sage and Riska ran towards the sound of battle.

When the tree line broke away to water they found that both Kento and Rowen stood in their under armours with their weapons in their hands. Between them on the ground lay Cye, his eyes were closed and blood rested at the corner of his mouth, he too was in his under armour.

A circle of Nether warriors surrounded the Ronins with their weapons drawn and ready for attack.

"Cye!" Sage cried out in panic. He quickly caught the attention of the Nether warriors which made Riska go into her battle stance with her razor fans in her hands.

Sage summoned his sword to his hand and joined her side.

The fighting began quickly between the Ronins and Nether warriors. Quickly, the group discovered they were smarter fighters than Talpa's bucket heads, they seemed to dance around the Ronins with ease.

Sage and Riska fought their way to join the others in surrounding their fallen comrade.

"What happened to Cye?" Sage yelled to Kento over the fighting.

"We don't know! When we got here we saw these bucketheads dragging him out of the water!" Kento yelled back.

Cye coughed feeling his lungs burn with the water that he was swallowed. He groaned as he began to move his fingers and toes to make sure they were all there. As he began to move the ringing in his ears began to dissipate and his hearing finally came back in clear and with it the sound of battle around him.

Cye eyes opened completely taking in the scene around him. His friends had made a circle around him fighting off the Nether warriors that he had been battling just before. As he looked around he also saw a new face among his friends, and that face belonged to it a with girl.

Cye was confused by this, where did she come from? There weren't any Ronins as far as he knew. He only knew of Lady Kayura wearing one of the armours. Suddenly a realization came to him and snapped Cye back into focus.

"Be careful!" He croaked as loud as he could, it sounded muffled to his ears but seemed to do the job.

His friends jumped at hearing him and turned to look down at him.

"Cye!" They said happily before blocking off more of their enemy.

"Be careful… war… lord… some… where… near." Cye groaned and closed his eyes as the world around him began to spin again.

"Warlord?" Kento said feeling anticipation of a stronger force in his gut.

A whistle then caused the Hardrock bearer to jump back as a weapon coming at him, but was surprised when it was suddenly blocked by one of Riska's razor fans. She had knocked away a double-sided spear before it could hit Kento square in the chest.

"Matlal!" She yelled looking towards the water, she joined Kento's side.

The Nether warriors had backed off and the Ronins looked to the water to see a warlord standing in ankle deep water. The warlord wore dark green armour, his mask only revealed his black eyes.

"Hello again Riska of Souls," Matlal scoffed with a laugh. "It has been a long time since I have seen you last."

"Not long enough." Riska hissed.

Matlal began to laugh before he waved a hand which dismissed the Nether warriors.

"I was enjoying the show but I think perhaps it is time that I step in to show you all a real fight and what the new Dark Nether Realm has up their sleeve."

With a lunge Matlal went after Kento and Riska first with his double-sided spear in hand.

Kento and Riska blocked Matlal's attacks. He was fast, much faster than the Ronins had seen before.

Kento and Riska worked together to fight back at Matlal, keeping him away from Cye and the others. However, Matlal suddenly swung his spear at Riska's bad leg, the spear's tip hit the bullseye and caused Riska to collapse She could feel the cut reopen under her armour and the blood begin to pool.

Biting her bottom lip she kept in her scream as she felt shooting pain went down her leg.

Kento stood in front of her and blocked Matlal's second attempt to hit her. Sage jumped to join Kento, while Rowen ran to Riska's side.

Rowen pulled Riska up with a jerk which made her cry out, her sight became tunnel vision for a moment as she fought to keep her grip across Rowen's back strong. As carefully but quickly as he could Rowen took Riska over to Cye and had her sit beside him.

Cye meanwhile was trying to push himself up onto his elbows calling his yari to his hand.

A cry made the three of them look towards the battle as Kento and Sage fell at Matlal's feet.

"Stay here." Rowen said quickly to both Cye and Riska before putting an arrow to his bow's string and shooting his weapon straight at true towards the warlord.

However, Matlal caught the arrow by it's shaft then grinned at Rowen.

"Foolish child, prepare to meet your doom." Matlal turned the arrow's head back to Rowen and threw it at him like it was a miniature spear.

It was blocked by Cye's yari but that was soon knocked away by Matlal who hit Cye with one end of his spear while simultaneously hitting Rowen in the shoulder with the other end.

Both Ronins went down with a cry. Rowen grasped his shoulder and looked up at Matlal, behind him Riska forced herself onto her knees and pushed Rowen back so that he fell on his butt behind her. A thin sheen of sweat appeared across Riska's forehead as she held herself up.

Matlal laughed as he stood above all the fallen Ronins.

"I don't know what the others were talking about. You are still weak Shōkōjo, you and the Ronins will die easily and Emperor Zetsumei will soon be the ruler of this realm and all others." Matlal raised his spear aiming it for Riska's heart. "Nightshade Snare!" His spear began to glow a dark green with power.

Riska stared at Matlal in the eyes refusing to look away from the warlord as his spear began the descent for his final blow.

Suddenly, a column of red light came flying across the water and hit Matlal hard, he yelled in pain.

"It burns!" He cried, he took a breath before he disappeared with a snap of dark energy, "I will return Ronins!" Matlal's voice echoed over the water.

Riska let out a breath as she fell onto her side out of exhaustion, but her eyes followed the other Ronins across the water to the opposite shore.

There in his full Wildfire armour that Suzunagi had bestowed to him stood Ryo. His armour's mask fell back revealing his face as he panted to catch his breath. Beside him faithfully stood White Blaze.

"Ryo!" Sage, Cye, Kento, and Rowen yelled out in a relieved unison.

"Thank the gods." Riska whispered before she closed her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Riska sat up with a start; echoes of her dreams went through her head as she caught her breath. She felt sweat beaded on her forehead.

"Just a dream." She whispered to herself as she put her right hand on her forehead to rub it with her eyes shut and her left hand at her side.

As her left hand landed at her side her eyes shot open and took a little around. Her under armor was gone and was replaced with a borrowed maroon sweater that said Sengoku University across the front.

"Bed? Blankets? Where am I?"

"Our friend Mia's home." Answered Rowen as he entered the room. "You seemed to be having a nightmare, are you alright?"

Riska looked at Rowen, he had changed into a blue sweater with jeans. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he had his arms crossed resting over his chest. Rowen's blue hair was a mess, just like usual, but his blue eyes, which reminded Riska of a sea of stars at night, reflected emotion that she wished wasn't there. Empathy.

"I'm fine." Riska finally whispered as she realized she was staring at the bearer of Strata. "How did we get here?"

"After the battle we decided it would be best for us to regroup and get our answers somewhere more safe. This place…" Rowen was cut off.

"…is protected." Riska finished, "I can feel it. The power of the Ancients radiates here."

Rowen nodded, "a parting gift from Lady Kayura to ensure we would always have a safe house. The others are downstairs, we've been waiting for you and Cye to recover so that we can finally get the answers you promised." Rowen's voice was soft as he gauged Riska.

Finally, after a moment of consideration Riska nodded, "very well."

She flipped the bed's blanket off her lap and looked down at the sweat pants she wore. They were maroon like the sweater which made Riska smirk. Underneath the sweat pants she could feel the pull of gauze and wrap around her wound.

"Mia is washing your other clothes…" Rowen explained quickly. "your… umm… pants… were ripped where you were wounded… Mia said you would probably fit one of her pair of jeans."

"I must thank her." Riska said as she lifted herself off the bed.

She placed her foot down on her wounded leg tentatively testing to see how much pain there would be. Riska winced as she put pressure down, it was sore but manageable. With a jump of surprise she looked up at Rowen who had place a supporting hand on her arm.

"Would you like help?" the blue-haired boy asked, he was looking her directly in the eyes which only caught Riska's attention again.

Riska opened her mouth then closed it again as she returned his gaze.

"I… appreciate it… but I think I should be able to manage." She finally answered breaking the silence between them.

Rowen nodded, "let me know if you change your mind. I'll have your back."

Rowen and Riska made their way down stairs to the large living room where the other Ronins and Mia were waiting.

Cye sat beside his best friend Kento on a couch, a bruise was fading to yellow on his cheek and his swollen lip all but disappeared. Other than looking worn out he seemed to otherwise be doing better. He wore a light blue t-shirt with jeans and tennis shoes; he gave Riska a reassuring smile as she entered the room.

Kento and Sage, who also sat on the couch with Cye, both watched Riska silently sizing her up and trying to figure out what her next move would be. Kento was in a white hoodie that had "Milkball" written across his chest and jeans. While Sage was in a dark green polo with khaki pants he relaxed against the back of the couch with one arm resting along the back of the couch and his leg crossed over his knee.

Ryo sat in an armed chair by himself; he was leaning forward resting his elbows on his knees with his fingers interlaced which supported his chin. His hands blocked most of his mouth but his eyes were in full view and looked at Riska intently, but more with a thoughtful look than his other two friends. He wore his red sweater and jeans, the air around him still said he continued to be the unofficial leader of the group.

Mia stood behind the couch; she was wearing a yellow button down shirt that was untucked from her straight legged jeans. She also gave Riska a smile that welcomed her warmly.

Rowen walked over to sit on the arm of Ryo's chair.

As Rowen sat down White Blaze stood up from where he was laying down beside Ryo and walked over to Riska. A low purr came from his throat as he rubbed against Riska's good leg. She smiled as she looked down at him.

"Hello old friend." She whispered as she scratched behind the tiger's ear, as she glanced up at Ryo she saw him eyeing her carefully.

White Blaze licked Riska's hand before returning to his master's side.

"How are you feeling, Riska right?" Mia finally said to break the silence.

Riska nodded, "I am doing much better. Thank you." Slowly she walked over to the open seat in the armchair opposite of Ryo.

"I was worried when you got here, the boys told me about all the battles you helped them with, it sounded like you took a lot of hits for them. I'm so thankful for your help." Mia continued then looked to the others to speak up. A grumble of thank you went around the room.

"So, you promised us that once we were all together you would let us know what's going on." Kento said finally. His voice was laced with impatience.

"Yes, I would like some answers." Sage agreed, as the others nodded.

"And I will fulfill my promise; I do not make them lightly." Riska assured them all, "now, where to begin." She pondered out loud.

"How about who this Emperor Zetsumei is and where he came from?" Ryo suggested.

Riska nodded, she knew that would probably be the best place to start to begin this mess.

"Zetsumei was a mortal once, the first son of an honorable and great family here in ancient Japan, during the Kofun period. He was loved by his parents and idolized by his siblings." Riska began, "Talpa, as you know, was an evil spirit that wished to rule both the Nether Realm and this Mortal Realm. However, he wasn't able to summon enough power to have a solid body in this world in the beginning. However, he wished to gain numbers from the Mortal Realm for his army. However, he needed a host first, and he found it… in the body of Zetsumei's father.

No one saw the difference at first, Talpa was smart and began to subtly have the warriors of Zetsumei's father join him and he also poisoned Zetsumei's mind with the idea that he must have more power and call upon the Nether Realm for support.

Eventually, Zetsumei believed every word Talpa told him, and why wouldn't he? When he looked at the man all he saw was his father and he wanted to gain his father's approval.

One day, Talpa was found out by the wife of Zetsumei's father while Talpa was speaking to a Nether spirit. The wife panicked, she realized that the man that was her beloved was no longer there. However, when she went for help in the palace she found the warriors and servants were all loyal to the evil spirit in her husband's body. She tried to run then with her young toddler children, twins, a boy and girl.

However, Zetsumei had told Talpa where she had gone and Talpa ordered Zetsumei to show his allegiance by finding and killing his mother and bringing back the children. He told him that his mother meant to stop them from truly achieving the freedom of power."

Riska paused her eyes went distant for a moment before continuing finally, but her voice sounded detached at the next part of the story.

"Zetsumei followed his orders. He found his mother and tricked her to think he was on her side and when his mother went to hug her eldest son in relief he stabbed her in the back then chopped off her head as proof for his father.

When he finally returned with his mother's head and his younger siblings Talpa rewarded him with immortality and the promise that one day he could succeed him.

It was then that Talpa used his Nether spirits to cast a spell that made all the lands of Zetsumei's family to disappear into the Nether world. All that was left behind was the empty shell of Zetsumei's father's body.

Once in the Nether world Zetsumei began his training to become a warlord and general for Talpa and learned how to harbor the power of the Nether Realm.

When you defeated Talpa and he finally died, for real, Zetsumei stepped up to the throne. He had been waiting centuries for it, growing his power and allegiance to others outside of the Nether Realm.

He is powerful and cunning, since he was never a spirit like Talpa he understands how mortals think and act. Just when you think he will turn away from you he will strike and show you just how merciless he is."

As Riska ended her explanation she looked at each of the Ronins and Mia.

Cye, Ryo, and Rowen shared similar looks; they were going through all the information in their head trying to break things down for strategy. Kento looked skeptical, which was the exact opposite of Mia who was intrigued. However, Sage was staring at Riska with his one eye that showed from behind his hair and he seemed to want to deny everything Riska told them.

"What happened to his siblings?" Sage finally asked.

"What?" Riska asked surprised.

"You didn't tell us what happened to his siblings." Sage pointed out.

Riska sighed, "They died. Their innocence couldn't handle the evil that was in the Nether Realms, it ripped them apart from the inside out."

"And just how do you know all of this?" Sage asked.

Everyone gave Riska the same hardened curious look that Sage had on his face. Riska could feel their hesitation and knew she couldn't lie any longer.

"Because… I was once a part of Zetsumei's court of allies."


	8. Chapter 8

As the warlords entered the throne room candles along the walls burst to life. The lights went all around the room and stopped as they reached the sliding doors that opened to the throne on the other side.

The warlords kneeled before the screen with their arm across the chest and fist resting on their opposite shoulder. They looked down at the floor awaiting their master's presence.

On the other side of the wall they could hear whispering, but a moment later the doors finally slid back.

Lady Yuri sat on the stairs beside the throne in a long flowing smoky gray dress; her brown hair flowed down towards her feet. She rested her head on the side of the throne while she gazed at the warlords with her golden eyes.

On the throne sat Emperor Zetsumei of the Nether Realm. His face was young and flawless except for the four scar lines that went over his left eye, but that did not hinder his intense green eyes which constantly reflected the swirl of all the souls he had taken over the centuries. His hair, however, was white and short although it was the only sign of his true age it did not take away from his strength. At the moment he looked serious and stern as he gazed down at his warlords.

"You have all failed me." As Zetsumei spoke the room echoed, "I sent you all out to kill the Ronins BEFORE they reunited. And now they sit in their safe house planning against us! I have half the mindset to put you all into the pit as lesson for failing me."

"We are sorry, my gracious lord," began Morpheus, "they were assisted by Riska of Souls and she had shown great strength."

"And when we finally were able to weaken her, the Ronins leader, Ryo of the Wildfire, showed up." Matlal added.

The warlords kept their head down to show their regret for their actions.

Zetsumei let out a laugh, "you allowed Shōkōjo to embarrass you? She is hardly any concern of mine."

"My lord," Yuri stated softly looking up to her emperor. "The girl's strength has grown as the Ronin's has. She is no longer the same as she was in your court."

Zetsumei looked down at the woman at his side without moving his head.

"I see. Perhaps then you should go to try to defeat the Ronins."

"My lord?" Yuri questioned pulling away from the throne.

"We no longer can try to kill the Ronins individually; we must capture them and bring them here. Can you show my warlords how to fight, Gatekeeper?" Zetsumei asked.

Yuri's eyes lit up briefly, "yes, my lord, it would be my honor to prove my worth to you."

Lady Yuri stood up beside her emperor to bow to him then walked down the stairs to walk past the warlords.

"Morpheus, Matlal, Enkidu." Zetsumei stated turning towards his warlords. "Prepare your troops for battle."

As the warlords acknowledged their orders the doors to Zetsumei's throne closed.

* * *

"You… you were a part of the Nether Realm?" Cye repeated with shock.

"How do we know that you aren't going to turn on us then?" Sage asked.

Riska looked at each Ronins sadly, "Yes, Cye, I was once one of them. I have sworn to protect the Ronins long ago. After I had really seen what Talpa and Zetsumei were doing I knew I could not be among them."

"What do you mean by that?" Ryo asked.

"I was tricked into believing the same ideals. They told me they wanted to better the world, and take all those who wished to destroy life out of it. I had taken the lives of hundreds of innocents, and I-."

Riska was suddenly cut off as Kento lunged at her. They both tipped over the armchair that she sat in and went to the ground. Kento's hands wrapped tightly around Riska's throat, cutting off her air supply. Riska gasped at the grip and pushed her hands against Kento's shoulders the best she could with him on top of her and her leg stuck underneath the armchair.

Anger filled Kento's eyes, "you killed the innocent and you worked for the Nether rats! How can we ever trust you?!"

"Kento!" Mia cried out desperately as his brothers in arms jumped up to pull Kento off of Riska.

As Cye and Ryo ripped Kento off of the bearer of the Souls armor Riska coughed and turned to the side to try to get oxygen back in her lungs. Her breath was ragged and tears came down her cheeks. White Blaze jumped in front of her blocking Kento's view, he showed his teeth but did not growl.

Rowen and Sage kneeled on each side of her as Mia ran to get water.

"Kento! What has gotten into you!?" Ryo yelled, "This isn't like you at all!"

Kento rubbed his face with his hands, "you heard her dude, she worked and killed for them. She-."

"Is no longer a part of that world. Can't you see that?!" Ryo demanded pointing at Riska as Sage and Rowen helped her into a chair. White Blaze curled up at her feet keeping an eye on Kento.

"I don't like it either, Kento, but you don't see me trying to kill her." Sage stated angrily.

Kento blinked and looked between his friends and Riska, his eyes softened. Mia came back into the room and handed Rowen the glass of water in her hands to help Riska drink it.

"I… I'm sorry, we've been through so many battles against the Nether Realm. I just want it all to stop, once and for all." Kento explained with regret in his voice.

"We all do, Kento, but that doesn't mean we should resort to attacking every person that has ever been associated with them." Rowen told Kento.

"It's fine." Riska whispered, her voice sounded raspy. She reached up and touched Rowen's arm, the touch made Rowen shiver.

"No, he's right. I'm sorry Riska, I don't know what came over me. It was like my anger overcame all of my other thoughts." Kento stated, "I have a question though. If Zetsumei is essentially the adopted son of Talpa then where was the dude when we fought Talpa six years ago?"

"Talpa had assumed he had gone to survey the next realm he was to take over, but really, Zetsumei was crossing the dimensions to unite his own forces. He knew that if Talpa was defeated he would not get the throne as easily as he wished. Just because he had been in the Nether Realm for centuries, did not mean the Nether spirits would allow him to take over, not without proving his power." Riska explained, she took the glass of water Rowen offered and drank it.

"Dimensions." Rowen pondered out loud. "I know that we are one and the Nether Realm but what are the others?"

"Did Zetsumei find his warlords among them?" Ryo added.

"There are several out there, but I do not even know how many. Yes, Zetsumei found his warlords in different dimensions." Riska answered. "Morpheus was the first he recruited. He found him first not long after Talpa was defeated by the Ancient about a thousand years ago. Morpheus lived in a world of darkness; the sun there was a white dwarf and offered neither heat nor energy to his home. He bears the armor of famine because of how he lived through the starvation in his world.

Enkidu, he is from a world of gods, and I do not mean the ones you are familiar with in this realm. They were people with powers that would kill us if we tried to copy them and are nearly undefeatable. The warlord of war is exactly as he sounds. He killed thousands in his world to quench his thirst for power and chaos.

Matlal is the only one that came from a realm where the population is as mortal as us. However, it was a place that was wild and the environment was the rulers. Trees, water, birds everything that is harmless here were intelligent and merciless there. However, because of this Matlal learned how to create diseases from what is around him. I had once seen him kill with a single leaf he had picked and turned into an air-borne powder."

The Ronins looked at each other in awe.

"And the Lady Yuki, the gatekeeper?" Sage asked.

"She is a creature not from any one realm. She is a creation from the creation of life. Once Yuki had been on the side of good, wanting to help others and guide them. However, Zetsumei corrupted her and offered her experiences and passion that she could not experience by simply staying among all the doors to the realms. Yuki became the key for Zetsumei to freely travel between dimensions at will and the reason why his reach has gone further than Talpa's ever had."

"And what about you? Where did you come from?" Ryo asked finally.

Riska looked at Ryo then slowly at each of the others. Her eyes finally stopped on Kento, waiting for him to react again.

"I am from the mortal realm, this world. I was recruited when I was young and naive. I never knew family as you do. I was able to discover the true nature of Talpa and Zetsumei before it was too late, which is something I consider to be lucky. The Ancients clan took me in after I escaped the Nether Realm; they taught me a more honorable reason to fight. They were the ones who created my armor, separate from all of yours but still connected. However, they also punished me for my actions."

"And what was that punishment?" Kento asked.

"I will forever stay immortal, but I can die by mortal means. I am also to always see the beings of the Spirit Realm. Kodama mostly, small creatures that often take the form of anything they feel like for fun. I had chosen to swear to protect the Ronin Warriors, whoever they are in each generation, and to fight beside them. However, the Ancient was the one who cursed me to escort their souls to the afterlife upon death."

The Ronins and Mia became quiet and still. Riska looked up to Rowen and Sage to see their reactions.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Kento said softly.

Riska looked at him then began to laugh.

"You don't think it sounds too bad Hardrock?" She asked mockingly, "Does watching those you come to enjoy the company of and even love grow old and die sound good? Then having to coax their spirit from their body, even if they are not ready to leave the mortal realm, and then take them to the afterlife sound good to you?

How about if they were one of your brothers at arms that died at your side in battle because you moved too slow or they decided to sacrifice themselves so that others can live? Do you not realize how many other Ronins there have been in a thousand years' time?

I am between worlds at all times, sometimes I cannot tell where the Mortal Realm ends and the Spirit Realm begins. I see the faces of those that came before you in my dreams and relive their deaths as well."

Riska began to cough as her throat dried out. Rowen handed her the glass of water again and she drank it quickly.

Mia gave Riska an empathetic look while the Ronins mostly looked unsure how to answer.

"I could not fight with you before against Talpa because I was trapped elsewhere, but I can now. I will fulfill my role as your protector and guide. In return, all I ask is that you trust me enough to allow me to show you the way. The armors you have now are more powerful than ever before.

Ryo, the fact that you were able to summon the power of the Wildfire armor without damaging yourself means you are strong. But, the rest of you have fallen behind in your training. We must be at full strength and unity if we are to go up against Zetsumei and be victorious.

I will leave you all to discuss what you want to do, since I am not the one who can make the decision for you." Riska stood up. With one last look around the room she headed for the stairs.

"Oh, Riska, wait!" Mia called after her before following the girl up the stairs.

Once both women were gone from the room the boys looked to each other.

"Well, what DO we do?" Cye asked.

* * *

Upstairs Mia took Riska to her study and began to show her old maps and stories that she and her family had collected over the years.

"A couple years ago, when Suzunagi appeared, I brought these to a meeting with the country's leaders to explain the Ronins to them. It seemed like everyone has heard a story about the Ronin Warriors one way or another. Usually, it had been passed down through their families. At first they thought I was just making up another story but then people began to speak up saying they saw them when they fought Talpa." Mia explained.

Riska nodded, "the world is much larger than it was before and stories that are based on truth are treated as myth. The other Ronins, they were known as heroes before. Now though, people are focused on vigilantes and their comic books so they don't often see a true hero when there is one."

"You think the Ronins are heroes?" Mia asked with a smile.

"No, I think they are all honorable men that have been given daunting tasks throughout their lives and they rise to the occasion. A hero is simply a word for people to describe those who have acted in times in turmoil without hesitating to think selflessly. There are many heroes out there; we just don't do a good enough job to recognize all of them." Riska explained then smiled at Mia, "your collection is amazing, Mia Koji. I was convinced that most of this had been lost throughout the ages and became stories grandparents told their grandchildren as a lesson, but you have held on to the truth behind all the legends."

Mia nodded then looked to the television that she had turned on in the room.

"What are they doing?" She questioned out loud, she moved around the desk to get closer to the screen.

Riska turned as well to see what Mia was talking about.

On the screen was a news program and they were showing images of downtown Tokyo. The clouds which the Nether Realm had summoned now covered the sky completely, and in one portion they swirled as if they threatened to create a storm or tornado.

Rows of tanks and members of the militia were shown marching into the city. The headline on the bottom of the screen said "_local military sent in to deal with terrorist threat_."

"Idiots." Riska hissed as she moved to stand beside Mia.

They watched as the soldiers worked their way towards the Tokyo Imperial Palace where Zetsumei had taken over for his personal use. The soldiers were surprisingly not attacked as they surrounded the palace walls, falling in line according to their plan.

"It's a trap, they must leave!" Riska warned feeling panic filling her chest.

Mia and Riska's eyes stayed glued to the television, they didn't even register when the Ronins came into the room behind them.

Mia spotted the Nether warriors before the newscasters did; the attack came all at once against the military troops. The group all watched in horror as the battle started and ended quickly. Before anyone realized what had happened the soldiers were surrounded by dead and dying comrades. Immediately they began to fall back with the injured and leaving behind the dead.

Riska made fists feeling anger and guilt bubble over. She turned to the Ronins with her eyes filled with threatening tears. On the television the screen went blank as the story was cut off the air.

"Will you fight again Ronins, or will you watch as others die, like those men and women?" She asked them desperately.

Ryo looked at his brothers in arms then back at Riska.

"We will fight with you." He replied.

Riska sighed with relief then nodded, "get ready then Ronins, we must train before going up against Zetsumei and his empire."

Outside, in the trees, Lady Yuki was perched on a tree branch watching the scene inside the house. The gatekeeper was in her battle clothes of a tight fitting suit with a breast plate and leg shields.

She smiled, "come little Ronins into my web." With a blur of movement Yuri disappeared into a wormhole she had created.


	9. Chapter 9

The Ronins stood in a circle around Riska in the living room, she had changed into a pair of borrowed jeans and her own shirt made of faded white lace and thin cloth. They had moved the couches aside at her insistence and were now watching her as she stood with her eyes closed and lips moving slowly in silent words. White Blaze stood with them at Ryo's side waiting patiently.

Mia stood outside the circle near the door that led to the kitchen. Although she looked calm and strong she felt nervous. Riska had insisted that Mia stay in her mansion and not to leave under any circumstances.

"_You're strong Mia, but I fear not strong enough against this enemy." Riska had told her. "You must stay here and appeal to the leaders of this country that they must not act against Zetsumei, they cannot waste more innocent lives. You must prove to them it's in their best interest to try to evacuate at many people that are under the Nether Realm's reach instead of trying to push back against the Nether Realm."_

Mia had agreed but with great hesitation, she itched to be along side the Ronins in their fight like before.

"_Keep them safe." Mia had told Riska looking the other girl in the eyes._

"_I will, or I will die trying." Riska had promised._

Finally, Riska opened her eyes, the green in her iris swirled as Riska looked off into the distance.

"Do not stray from me Ronins, we are to travel between channels of time and space. If we are attacked, stand together, for if you stray too far from me I may not be able to get you back." Riska ordered her voice was strong and almost sounded as if it came from a distance.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the room the glass on the fireplace mantel shook then suddenly silence.

Mia stood alone in the room the only sign that the Ronins were ever there were the gently falling dust that had fallen off their clothes.

Ryo gasped as he felt his stomach flip as he felt his body twist like laffy taffy through the dimensional channel. Around him he saw nothing but pillars of colors and lights. It was as if they were in a prism.

He still seemed to be in the circle of his fellow Ronins and everyone looked to be in one piece as they traveled but to him he felt his head swim with dizziness.

Each Ronins looked to their friends to make sure they were all there and to silently ask, "are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Kento let his fingers reach out and go through the wall of color that was beside him like when you put your fingers through flowing what it moved softly around his finger tips.

_Amazing_. Cye thought, his eyes widened as he realized his friends heard what he had thought.

_Amazing is right. _Rowen replied, _this place is… it's against any physics of the world._

_That is because it is not a part of your world. _Came Riska's reply

Rowen nodded as he looked around but he suddenly found himself blocking an attack that came from behind.

Nether spirits surrounded them quickly trying to break the circle and separate the group, but they held their ground as they were still able to transform into their under armour's to fight. Ryo glanced over his shoulder for a moment and saw Riska's face scrunched tight in concentration, she clearly wanted to fight but knew she had to hold on to their path.

Laughter surrounded the Ronins in a way that was not natural. It seemed like the sound ringed through to their nerves. Cye felt his fingers shake with the gleeful laughter.

"You think you can sneak past me, in MY world Ronins?"

Lady Yuri appeared in one place but all around at the same time. Her pewter staff was held tightly in her hand as she swept over the Ronins mockingly.

"I had no plan to sneak past you, Yuri. I knew you'd be here." Riska spoke up watching the warlady taunt them.

"Then you led your little Ronins to their deaths." Yuri replied as the Nether spirits attacked all at once.

Fighting rung out across the channel stretching it and turning it enough to make the Ronins not know whether they were right side up or upside down.

"Riska, we can't hold them back much longer!" Sage yelled out over his shoulder as he sliced at yet another spirit.

"Hold on, just a moment longer!" Riska called back, she chanted words quickly under her breath.

Just as the Ronins were ready to fall apart a portal opened in the middle of the circle by Riska.

"I will not let you pass through the gate!" Yuri screamed.

"You are not the only one with keys to the doors." Riska hissed, "boys now!"

The Ronins yelled out battle cries at the same time as they used their armours power to create a shockwave pushing back the Nether spirits and Yuri.

"Hurry, through the gate before they recover." Riska ordered.

The boys broke the circle one at a time.

White Blaze jumped through the portal first with Cye, then Kento followed a moment later, then Rowen.

"Go, go, go." Riska called urging them through.

As Ryo and Sage approached the opening that Riska stood beside they heard a whoosh and high pitched female screech.

Riska reached over to push both Ronins through desperate to get them to safety. Ryo and Sage fell through the portal with Riska just as the screech came close to their ears.

The portal closed instantly behind them as they tumbled on hard ground. Ryo looked around and saw that no Nether spirit or warlady had been able to follow them through.

"We made it!" Ryo yelled out and began to laugh.

Riska stood up and surveyed their surroundings with relief.

Ryo reached over and slapped Sage on the back out of happiness however the growl that came out of his friend's mouth made Ryo's head turn quickly and his laugh die in his throat.

"Sage? Are you alright?" Ryo asked as the other Ronins caught up with the trio.

Sage was on one knee, but his hair covered his face so that Ryo could not see it.

"Yes, fine, just landed a little rough." Sage sounded calm but his voice was obviously strained.

Riska looked down at Sage with concern, she reached one of her hands and placed it on Sage's shoulder only have him shake it off.

Riska raised an eyebrow but did not push the subject. The other Ronins followed her lead and began to laugh and talk about how they were amazed by the portal.

"It felt like we were floating in water." Cye said.

"Or among the stars." Rowen added.

"Ronins." Riska said catching their attention. "I want to welcome you to my sanctuary."

"What is this place?" Sage asked quietly.

The boys looked around to observe nothing but flat white ground that looked similar to the Bonneville Salt Flats that was in the United States, it was surrounded by rolling snow-capped mountains. A gentle wind flowed through the valley and in the distance they saw a building surrounded by a fence of wood.

"Some call it Purgatory, others simply the Void, and it has even been called the Invisible World." Riska replied, "I refer to it as the spirit realm, a place where some are stuck between life and death. It looks different with every person that finds their way here, what you see is my point of view."

"How-" Rowen began but then suddenly jumped into action as he caught Sage before his friend could fall.

Sage gripped his side as his under armour disappeared, Rowen saw blood staining his friend's shirt along his abdomen.

"Quickly." Riska said urgently, "follow me. Kento, help Rowen carry Sage."

She began to walk away from the Ronins without looking back to see if they were following.

"Where are we going?" Cye asked as he and Ryo caught up.

"The darkest prison that sheds the light." She replied.


	10. Chapter 10

Ryo sat beside the column of ice and rock that held his friend Sage of Halo, light shone against the column reflecting small flecks of light onto the ground. White Blaze slept peacefully at Wildfire's side as he waited with his master.

The cave they were in was almost identical to the one that Ryo had found Sage in the mortal realm. Riska had explained it was reflection of the cave, the same but inversed of Halo's resting place in their world. She had insisted on taking Sage here as quickly as possible. Halo was close to losing complete consciousness by time they reached the correct location; he was barely able to acknowledge his friends trying to help him.

"_Are you sure this is going to work?" Kento asked, panic had taken over he had never seen any of his friends so weak from such a wound before._

"_Yes, this place is just as powerful, if not more as the resting place of Halo in the mortal realm. It will heal Sage and revive him." She had insisted as she helped Sage raise his sword and call upon the column's power to take him into its embrace._

_When everyone else hesitated at first to let go of their friend, Ryo had stepped up beside Riska._

"_Please, we must do this to help Sage. I have faith that Riska isn't leading us astray." Ryo then took over holding Sage up along with Kento. Together they placed in Sage into the carved center of the column. Once they jumped back down the column lit up, and encased Sage into his resting place._

Ryo sighed thinking about everything that has happened so far. For some reason he felt that Riska was familiar to him, and he kept trying to remember where he had seen her or even heard of her before.

* * *

Outside the cave the other Ronins had gone with Riska to the fenced in building that was not too far from the cave's opening.

Turns out it was a large traditional style Japanese house, a garden surrounded the entire building with a large hot springs in the back that faced the foothills of the mountains.

The Ronins were sitting around a dining table filled with food, but not even Kento was digging in at the pace he usually did.

"Man, I just don't get it." Kento said. "How did he even get a wound that bad? Our armors are supposed to be tough. Sure we've gotten a few bruises and scratches in the past but nothing like that, nothing that-" Kento quit speaking and put his head in his hands. Cye patted him on the back.

"You're right, this is different. Zetsumei is more powerful than Talpa, his warlords are too." Cye looked at Rowen who had previously been looking out the window into the distance thoughtfully.

"This changes things for us. We can't be reckless about fighting the Nether Realm, we have to be precise. I don't want to watch them take us out one at a time; we may not be lucky in the next battle."

"You're right, Rowen." Riska said as she joined the Ronins at the table. "And that is why we are here. I'm going to help train you all so that we can match Zetsumei in battle and you can all rebuild your confidence as the Ronin Warriors."

"We have faced the Nether Realm before, but this is different. Facing them again feels like the nightmares have begun all over again." Cye told Riska. "What if we are not strong enough to defeat them this time?"

"I understand the weight of the past battles have on you. I've seen it before… I've experienced myself. You know you can fight when you need to, but a part of you is now always looking over your shoulder, always thinking it's not enough. I wish to help you overcome your doubts and see you are more powerful than you know.

Sage will recover in a day or two; in the meantime we are going to begin a training regimen. Halo will join us once he has healed.

This place has the reflection of each of your armors resting locations; I want you all to spend a few hours a day in each of yours after we begin the day with battle exercises. In the afternoons I'll spar with you all one by one and slowly add in more obstacles to it each time."

"What kind of obstacles?" Cye asked.

Riska smirked, "you'll find out soon enough. Once done with all these you can do as you wish.

I'm going to go check on Sage and Ryo."

Riska left the Ronins alone, after a few minutes Ryo joined them with White Blaze.

"Riska insisted on taking over for me." He had explained before digging into the food joining the silence of his brothers in arms.

* * *

That night Ryo was studying a tapestry that was on a wall in the training room with great interest. It depicted a typical Japanese landscape from the country's more ancient days. In the landscape stood a mansion of a wealthy family, it blended in with the mountains to add to the beauty.

"What is it Ryo?" Cye asked.

"I have this feeling that I heard about Riska before." Ryo said.

"What do you mean?" Kento came up behind Cye; he held a chicken leg in his hand.

"The Ancient One trained me before I had originally gone to Tokyo. And while he did, he would tell me stories about the Ronins that came before us. He said that many men had lived and died as Ronins, but they had a guardian to ensure their success in fighting against the Nether Realm.

This guardian was supposed to be a part of our world, the Nether Realm, and the spirit world. They were also supposed to grow with strength with each new generation of Ronin Warriors. He said that this guardian moved along the passage of time with its weathering effects of age.

He also told me that they were related to Talpa through blood shed. However, unlike Talpa, they were of pure heart and mind. Most importantly they were supposed to be an important enemy against Talpa and his Nether Realm followers."

"You think that's Riska?" Cye asked.

Ryo nodded, "but more importantly, I think she's related to Talpa and Zetsumei closer than we thought. I think she's…"

* * *

Outside Rowen stood watching the stars with interest. The constellations in the sky were ones he had never seen before. The large full moon also filled the western sky instead of the east in its ascent.

Rowen found himself wandering through the gardens and out through the gate, his eyes never left the sky above.

He finally stopped when he heard someone clear their throat.

"You're not going to find anything familiar up there. I searched the skies for months before I realized it myself; this world is too close to the heavens." Riska explained.

She was sitting crossed legged next to the opening of the cave Sage was in.

"Oh, Riska, sorry, I seemed to have gotten lost in thought."

Riska smiled, "you seem to do that a lot, Rowen of Strata."

Rowen returned the smile then a question crossed his mind, "you told us this place is the spirit world, and that everyone sees this place differently. But, yet, we're still alive and we're here, and you also said this is your point of view of this realm. What did you mean by that?" Rowen asked.

Riska lowered her head sadly, "There is no real key to this world, only someone that has been here before can get in and out. And only someone that has been here can let others in."

"How did you get here?" Rowen asked. It felt like he was reaching a piece of important information. He froze as Riska looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I died."

"What?" Rowen was surprised by the answer.

"Well, technically, I died twice." Riska added with a crooked smirk. "Neither one was pleasant either."

"Whoa, wait just a second, what!?" Rowen demanded.

Riska sighed, "I'm alive right now and have been alive for a very long time, Rowen. Do you remember the story I told you about Zetsumei? About his family and how Talpa influenced him into becoming what he is today?"

Rowen nodded, "yes, he killed his mother without thinking twice. And he took his siblings to the Nether Realm with him, but they died. What did Talpa want to do with the children anyway? What use were they to him?"

"He wanted to raise the perfect soldiers. Zetsumei was great, but not perfect. Talpa had always been paranoid that those he recruited would be his downfall. His plan, like most, was flawed though." Riska let out a laugh, "The twins were scared and confused when they were sent to the Nether Realm, all they understood was their mother and father were gone and their eldest brother wouldn't even look at them.

Their fear became the perfect storm for the Nether Spirits to feed off of. It provided them as a constant source of power.

At first, there were no signs of the spirits affecting the twins. But, a year went by then another and another. The years of being used at Nether spirit food began to take a toll on the twins.

The boy had grown sick and frail, and Talpa had grown weary of trying to get him to follow his orders flawlessly. He became bedridden and his sister had to watch him fade without any way to save him.

The girl, though, she was different and Talpa watched her with more interest. However, she hadn't told anyone that she witnessed what Zetsumei had done to their mother and samurai guards. Her fear that had been with her as a toddler had grown into anger as a child, and the Nether Spirits encouraged that anger to grow."

"That sounds a lot like Suzunagi." Rowen commented, "What happened to Zetsumei's sister?"

"She decided that she wanted to plot her revenge against her eldest brother, but she didn't completely understand what was going on. Talpa had the twins educated in reading, writing, even history but you can't say that emotions were his forte. So, she struggled with what she was feeling and how they affected her." Riska sighed.

"Were you serving Talpa then? Is that how you know all this about Zetsumei's siblings?" Rowen asked.

Riska looked up at Rowen and locked eyes with him. "Not exactly. Rowen of Strata, that girl, Zetsumei's sister, is me."

The blue-haired boy's face was unreadable but she saw that his hand was twitching towards his pocket where his orb was. She continued quickly with her story, hoping he was still listening.

"One night I decided to try to kill Zetsumei, I look back now and see how foolish and naive I was. At first, the plan seemed to be perfect; I had snuck out of my room without attracting attention when I knew the guards were rotating. Then, I made my way to the other side of the palace. When I finally made it to Zetsumei's room I had thought luck was on my side, I didn't know yet about how you can be tricked into false security.

Zetsumei was asleep when I walked up to him, I finally thought I could finally scratch the itch to kill him and I was finally going to get the revenge I craved. So, I took out the dagger that my mother had given me before she had died and had kept hidden from Talpa and Zetsumei since they took me out of the Mortal Realm and I went in for the kill.

However, just as I reached his chest, Zetsumei woke up and turned the tables on me. Next thing I knew Zetsumei had me by the neck and my dagger in my gut. He walked to the window, telling me how he knew that I would be coming and that I was a weak useless thing. Not a person, a thing. Then with just as much care he had for our mother he threw me out of the window like I was a doll."

"How… how did you survive?" Rowen asked.

"I didn't, I fell twenty feet and died on impact. That was the first time I came here, at first it was only the salt flat you see.

Turns out though Talpa found out what happened and became proud of my anger and sense of revenge. He ordered the Nether spirits to bring me back to life. However, in exchange for my life they killed my twin brother as a sacrifice. I'll save you the details, but let's just say that when I told you that the Nether Realm ripped the twins apart from the inside out, that I wasn't kidding.

I had side effects; of course, I began to see spirits when I came back to life. They were just wisps at first, but then became solid figures. Always watching from a distance, always giving me company when I didn't want it."

"I'm sorry." Rowen said as he swallowed.

"You must understand though, when I was brought back to life by Talpa he put me under a spell. I was then under Talpa's command and would be for centuries, just another one of his immortal mindless warlords. I even became one of his favorites, which only made Zetsumei jealous and more determined to take over the Nether Realm.

However, one day The Ancient broke the spell, which is when I died a second time.

As for those spirits, they haunted me, and every living thing I killed for Talpa would join the ranks until I felt surrounded by them. It was the Ancient Clan taught me how to finally guide most to the light as severance for killing so many innocents."

"How old were you… when you died, the first time?" Rowen asked.

"Eight." Riska let out a laugh at Rowen's astonished expression, "Like I told you, I was very young and naïve, and when I look back now and I wonder how I even got into that mess. My best guess is that it had to have been the Nether Spirits swaying me. They loved having my twin and me as their food and playthings."

"How'd you die the second time?" Kento's voice suddenly came from behind Rowen. Riska saw that Ryo, Cye, and Kento had quietly joined them.

"It was in battle." She replied, "I had been under Talpa's rule for centuries and the Nether Spirits kept my mind occupied most of the time when I wasn't on missions. Much like how they kept Lady Kayura under their control.

I had met The Ancient after a mission to attack villages around Edo. He awoke my memories, and made me think on my own for the first time. Then in the final battle between The Ancient and Talpa, I saved The Ancient by jumping in front of an attack by Talpa to save him."

"And that's how the Ancient Clan decided to take you in." Ryo finished.

Riska nodded, "yes, they brought me back to life, in a little more pleasant way, but I'll still save the details. When I came back to this world the second time the spirits that followed me in the Mortal Realm were waiting and they wished to drown me in their woes."

"I knew that I heard of you before." Ryo suddenly said. "The Ancient One, he told me about you. He said that you were not able to help us fight the first battle against Talpa and that you were a guardian to the Ronin Warriors."

Riska nodded, "I was trapped here against my will. Suzunagi had found me in the late nineteenth century trying to help the newest generation of Ronins. I was trying to help her pass into the afterlife, but instead she pushed me back here to be trapped forever. It was her form of punishment for helping you all. I tried to tell her that she was wrong about the Ronins. You seemed to convince her that easier than I could.

Being here though, unable to go anywhere meant that I had to watch helplessly as the last Ronins before you were killed off one by one by the Western invaders. The Westerners weren't bad people, but the Nether Realm had infected some of their leaders.

Each Ronin Warrior protected the armors, though, and had them hidden with their families or among nature to wait for the next bearers."

"How did you escape from here?" Rowen asked.

"The Ancient, after he had sacrificed himself to Talpa for you, his spirit was led here to me. He guided me to freedom."

"But-." Kento began.

"Please, no more questions. I've told you enough about me and my true heritage." Riska told them.

"What about Sage? He should know too." Ryo stated indicating the cave their friend was resting in.

"He can hear us speak out here, which is if he chose to listen. Now please, rest inside. We have many long days ahead of us." Riska said, "I will keep watch over Sage tonight."

Satisfied with their answers for now, the Ronins followed Riska's instructions and headed back to the house to rest. Rowen was the last to leave Riska.

"Thank you Riska, for telling us everything. I know your past was tough, but now, I think Kento and Sage could at least put a little more trust into you."

"Thank you Rowen, that means a lot to me. Now go." Riska insisted and watched him return to the house. In her chest she felt a flutter as she watched him. Slowly she placed her hand on her chest to still it. "What is wrong with me?"

Without another look Riska headed into the cave to give Sage company.

"Lady Yuri, you let them escape. Just like the other warlords." Zetsumei hissed from his throne.

Lady Yuri kneeled before him with her head down. The warlords stood around her in a semicircle with smirks on their faces.

"I am sorry, my lord. We did achieve in critically wounded Sage of Halo." Lady Yuri explained.

Zetsumei laughed, "Do you think that makes up for not ensuring he was dead?"

Lady Yuri looked up to Zetsumei with narrowed eyes, "I was caught unaware, and you did not share the information that your sister was able to open portals in the channel. I thought she was only able to travel between our world and the mortal realm."

"What information I do not tell you about Shōkōjo is my business. What happened to your ability to think on your feet, Gatekeeper?" Zetsumei demanded. "Perhaps some time with the Nether Spirits would remind you of how to fight?"

"No sire." Yuri said with a wince.

Zetsumei stared down at Yuri then his eyes traveled up and around the room to each of his warlord's faces.

"We cannot reach the Ronins where they are now. However, they also cannot reach us. It is time we use that advantage. Go out into the world my warlords and create terror and destruction for the mortals. It is time they learn who their new master is." Zetsumei ordered.

"Yes, Emperor Zetsumei." Everyone said before disappearing into the darkness, leaving Zetsumei alone.

"Soon sister, I will show my true power, and I will destroy your Ronins once and for all."


	11. Chapter 11

Riska sat alone in the middle of the training room; she wore a purple and white kimono that was decorated with cherry blossoms and cranes. Her eyes were closed as she took deep slow breaths.

At her side sat a small dagger, the hilt was worn and chipped from years of use.

With a calm resolve her fingers touched the dagger's hilt and she felt the rough edges of it. A small smirk appeared on her lips as she suddenly flipped the dagger out of its sheath and blocked the swing from Sage's sword.

With a smooth motion she kicked out one of her legs from under her kimono and swung it around to trip Sage over.

The bearer of the Halo armor winced as he landed on his shoulder.

"Very good, Sage. That time I barely heard you approach." Riska commented as she stood up and offered Sage a hand.

Sage took it and stood up in front of the shorter girl, he looked down at her calmly.

"Still no excuse, it feels like I may never be able to sneak up to you." The blonde-haired boy stated as he pushed his hair away from both eyes revealing both piercing blue irises.

Riska gave Sage's shoulder a pat where he had landed on it. "You will."

Sage had awoken a day and a half after he was placed in the cave. His wound was completely healed leaving only a long light pink scar across his abdomen. He had surprised everyone by walking into the house with White Blaze at his side. The Ronins instantly gained back energy they had been missing from the absence of their friend.

Sage, meanwhile, felt refreshed and more awake than he had before. After Riska told him of her plan he immediately wanted to start training. Now he had an official score to settle with Lady Yuri and he wanted to ensure that he would win next time they met.

So, while the others took time recharging in their own respective places for their armors, Sage was able to get extra training in with Riska. He claimed that he had enough time with his dark prison.

At first, Sage was planning on just training alone, to not disturb the others, but Riska had insisted on training with him. When he tried to decline by explaining he didn't wish to inconvenience her she insisted that she didn't mind.

"Go get some rest and eat, Sage of Halo. We are done with training for the moment. I must go meet Kento for his turn." Riska told Sage before picking up her dagger's sheath and heading for the door.

As she opened the door she was met by Rowen who was on the other side. His hand was frozen up in the position to knock.

"Oh, hi." Rowen said quickly putting his hand down. "I was just checking to see if you two were finished, and it looks like… uh... you are. Umm...I was just seeing if Sage was ready for some lunch. Ryo is cooking some steamed fish, much to Cye's resentment." Rowen let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I'll get out of your way."

Riska was smiling up at Rowen and moved around him to walk away towards the foothills where Kento was waiting.

"I...uh… like the kimono." Rowen called after her, Riska replied with a hand waving a thank you.

Once she was gone Rowen groaned hand smack his face into his palm.

"My god, what has gotten into me lately?" Rowen sighed.

Sage laughed as he joined his friend's side.

"I think I know." Sage replied cryptically before heading for the main house where lunch was waiting.

"What?" Rowen asked as he jogged to catch up with his friend.

Sage smirked as he slid the door open to walk into the living quarters.

Ryo and Cye were sitting at the table with the food laid out and waiting. Cye was busy lecturing Ryo on why he should appreciate fish more, which Ryo was only half listening to.

"What do you know?" Rowen demanded.

"Know what?" Ryo asked Sage to Cye's annoyance.

"Why Rowen acts so flustered when it comes to simple conversations with Riska." Sage replied with a grin. He grabbed the large bowl of rice and loaded his smaller personal bowl with some.

Ryo smiled, "oh yea, that I know too."

"Nothing new there." Cye added with a sigh.

"What am I missing here?" Rowen asked his friends, annoyed that they were catching onto something he wasn't.

"You like her." Ryo said clapping his friend on the back making Rowen cough up some of the water he was drinking.

"Of course, I like her. I'm the first person who actually completely trusted her in the first place." Rowen countered.

"No, you _like her _like her." Sage told his friend gleefully.

Rowen face fell and his cheeks turned rosy.

"I… me… I… no way." Rowen insisted. "She's a great warrior and addition to the Ronins."

"No way, dude, we see how you keep looking at her when you think she's not looking." Sage insisted. "You are falling for Riska. You like an older woman, nothing to be ashamed of."

Sage smoothly drank his tea from his cup.

Rowen glared at his friend.

"Not as much as you like older women." Rowen replied finally.

"What are you talking about?" Sage asked calmly.

"You and Mia. Don't think I don't know you two are dating." Rowen called out Sage.

Sage coughed up his tea, he reached for the water pitcher and drank some of it as Ryo and Cye watched him with wide eyes.

"No way! You and Mia?" Ryo asked surprised.

"When did that happen?" Cye questioned.

Sage let out a breath as he put down the pitcher of water. He then straightened his posture and looked at his friends with a straight face.

"If you must know, it's going to be a year next month." Sage replied. "But, that's beside the point."

"No, dude that IS the point." Ryo said and began to quiz Sage with questions.

Rowen smirked relieved that the attention was off of him.

* * *

When Kento came back from his training session with Riska his face was red and covered in dirt.

"How'd it go Kento?" Cye asked from where he was doing pushups.

"She fights dirty, she keeps beating me." Kento groaned grabbing an apple from the table.

Ryo laughed as he stood up and stretched, "I doubt Riska fights dirty, I think you keep letting your brawn take over your brain."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kento demanded.

"He means you rush into things without thinking." Sage replied calmly from the corner he sat in.

"Not always!" Kento insisted. "Besides, who else has actually beaten her in a one on one fight? Other than Ryo?"

Ryo grinned, "the only reason I have one up on her is because I'm the only one who decided to keep training consistently."

"That is true." Rowen pointed out, "sure we've all worked out regularly, but Ryo is the only one who actually battle trained the last few years."

"He's also the only one that is familiar with is new armor." Riska's voice came from the door.

Everyone turned to look at her, "Ryo understands the most of his new Wildfire armor because he chose to embrace his role as a Ronin completely but even he struggles with fully accepting its full power. Cye, you are in touch with Torrent's element of water the most, but you are struggling with allowing yourself to use its power. Sage, your form with Halo's weapon is strongest but you fight the nature of the armor to seek light to power it. Kento, your mind is in the right place to align yourself with Hardrock, but your form in battle isn't controlled. And Rowen, you are accustomed to Strata, but you do not allow it to guide you in battle."

"And what about you?" Sage asked, "Even you must have your weakness."

Riska nodded, "I do. I am accustomed to close hand to hand combat that is quick. I grow antsy with longer more drawn out battles."

The boys were silent, Sage and Kento eyed Riska carefully. Sage's look was calculating, while Kento's was more sizing Riska up.

"Well, I think it's my turn for a training exercise with you." Rowen said getting up to break the silence.

Riska shook her head, "I'm sorry Rowen, I'm afraid I'm going to have to deny you that today. I've grown a bit tired, I believe my leg is not as completely healed as I had assumed. Please, all of you feel free to do as you wish for the rest of the day."

Without another word Riska left the Ronins. White Blaze walked into the room and came to Ryo's side. Ryo reached down and put his hand into White Blaze's fur to scratch between his shoulders.

At first, the Ronins were unsure what to do but eventually Kento and Ryo went off to practice battle moves, while Sage went to the small library to read up on ancient Japanese literature with Rowen. This left Cye to go to the pond in the garden and practice using his power over the element of water to cause small ripples on the water's surface.

Later that evening Cye was able to locate some dice hidden on one of the shelves. Without much persuasion he was able to convince his friends to begin a game of Chō-Han using candies to bet on.

"What do you think is going on back home right now?" Cye asked as he shook the bowl of dice before flipping it over.

"I'm sure whatever it is the Nether Realm is enjoying their freedom." Sage said with distaste.

"I just hope the governments around the world have decided to stay away for now." Rowen muttered.

"Yea, like that would happen." Ryo said sarcastically, "I don't know what we can expect. Sure, Mia is supposed to explain to them that they should wait for us to come back, but who listens to someone when they talk about myths coming true, especially one about a group five warriors from legend."

"C'mon Ryo, have some more faith. Someone will listen to Mia." Rowen assured his friend.

"I'm with Ryo, man, I bet you that militaries around the world right now are trying to fight them thinking we're nothing but a joke. I mean, what group of heroes is supposed to save the world but then disappears?" Kento said dismayed.

Rowen shook his head and stood up, "I'm going to go outside for a walk."

"Are you ok?" Sage asked seeing that his friend was bothered by something.

"Yea, I'm fine, just want some fresh air." Rowen insisted before leaving the room to walk along the outdoor walk ways.

Outside Rowen heard silence from his friends before arguing over the dice began. He smirked as he stuck his hands in his pockets and began to walk. A light breeze was blowing; it was at a comfortable temperature that reminded Rowen of summer night strolls back in Tokyo when the weather wasn't too hot or too cold.

The blue-haired boy found himself looking up to the stars again and the odd constellations that they held. He felt a level of peace at he looked up to the sky.

As he walked he didn't realize where he was wandering. It came as no surprise that at first, his mind was so busy with thoughts and theories that he didn't realize where he was until he heard a splash.

Looking around Rowen realized that he had walked down the paths around the house that led to the natural hot springs. Curious which one of his Ronin Warrior companions had decided to leave the game of dice he decided to walk around the partitioning wall and look into the water.

Steam curled into the air from the water and disappeared into the night sky, the rocks that surrounded the pools blocked Rowen's view at first until he walked closer to them. Then he froze.

He couldn't help but stare as he realized that he had accidently walked in on Riska using the hot springs. Her back was to him and he was sure that she hadn't realized he was there, but he realized that she was very much nude. However, what really made him pause and stare were the large scars and fading burn lines on the bearer of the Souls armor's back.

Some scars were pink and others white, they reached from her neck and all the way down her back, some even reached the top of her legs, while others were small were only an inch or two long. The burns rippled her skin between her shoulders, they didn't form any shape but they did seem concentrated in one area. Despite how the scars and burns covered her skin he still found her mesmerizingly beautiful under the light of the moon.

Rowen took a few more steps forward to try to get a closer look. He froze when he heard his foot crunch over the gravel, at the same time that Riska did.

Quickly before Rowen could react he heard Riska yell out a few select curse words from surprise then grab the towel from the water's edge and wrap it around her body.

Rowen covered his eyes with his left hand while he waved his right hand desperately trying to show he meant no harm.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I wasn't spying, I mean… I didn't mean to stare. I just. I thought you were one of the guys." Rowen rattled out.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Riska demanded. He heard her splash around as she walked to the steps made of volcanic rock to get out of the hot springs. Rowen kept his eyes covered as he heard her rip out another dry towel from a bag nearby and assumingly wrap it around herself.

"What are you doing over here?" Riska demanded ripping Rowen's hand from his face.

He tried not to look down, but caught himself glancing down and saw how the towel perfectly encased Riska covering her from her chest to her knees. Her feet were bare, but she didn't seem to notice or care about the gravel she stood on. Rowen quickly looked back up into Riska's angry green eyes; they seemed to be brighter from the emotion.

"I honestly thought you were one of the others that decided to come out for a swim. I didn't mean to intrude." Rowen told her honestly.

Riska sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "It's alright. Just next time call out before walking out here."

"Where did you get your scars?" Rowen blurted out, he regretted it immediately and wished Sage was there to punch his arm to remind him to not be such a big mouth.

Riska froze and looked at Rowen trying to decide if she wanted to tell him or not. She felt her heart rate quicken.

"You don't have to tell me, I'm sorry, I shouldn't even ask. It's rude, I'm rude, and I need to shut up." Rowen groaned.

Riska gave Rowen a small smile, "its ok. I think if I told you then perhaps you'll understand the level of distaste I have for my brother.

Not long after I had come back alive, the second time, I was captured by the Nether Realm, they weren't happy I had defected. So, they took me back to Talpa and Zetsumei. They had me locked up and tortured. I was beaten, whipped, burned, and even given water torture. The worst part though, was that Zetsumei enjoyed every minute of it. If it wasn't for the Ancient Clan coming and rescuing me I would've died… again, and that time there would be no way to bring me back. However, if they would've just let me stay and die, then the Ancient Clan wouldn't have been attacked and all but destroyed.

It's because of me that Lady Kayura was captured by the Nether Realm. She took my empty spot there, as Talpa's new pet project and assassin. I bear these scars now as a reminder."

"I don't think it's your fault about the clan being attacked, I'm sure the dynasty had it planned before you were rescued." Rowen said taking Riska's hand to try to comfort her.

Riska froze and looked down at Rowen's hand holding hers, "why do you say that?" Riska asked.

"Something Sage and I read today, according to the events after the final battle with Talpa there were small battles between the clan and the dynasty before they ended with the village being massacred. I think the dynasty attacked the clan as one last effort to show their dominance."

Riska sighed, "I wish I could let myself believe that. For now, I allow the scars to remind me of my appalling past."

Rowen found that he didn't want to let go of Riska's hand, and for some reason it made him feel more confident to say what he did next. "I think you're beautiful, even with your scars. It shows that you've lived."

Riska's eyes widened and she pulled her hand from Rowen's grasp.

"Rowen, how old do I look?" She asked.

"Umm, well, I would say somewhere around my age." Rowen answered the best he could.

"Do you know how old I actually am?" She asked.

"I-." Rowen began then stopped and shook his head.

"I'm almost 1,500 years old, Rowen. I have seen life come and go. I've seen thousands of wars and the death that went with them. And I've learned many lessons. One of them is that you cannot fall for someone you fight beside on the battlefield. It's a dangerous game that always ends in tragedy." Riska told Rowen as she tightened the towel wrapped around her. In her chest she felt the cold sting of trying to push her away emotionally and physically.

Rowen felt the same cold empty feeling from rejection.

"Riska…" Rowen whispered.

"No, Rowen, you cannot, we cannot. I can't put either one of us through this." Riska shook her head as she stepped away.

"Riska." Rowen said again as he stepped closer to her.

"Please, stop." Riska begged as she stepped in the warm water of the hot springs again. She stopped when Rowen put his hands on the top of Riska's arms to make her stand still. His grip wasn't tight, it was actually very gentle but it made Riska freeze in place. She stared into his blue eyes captivated by the light in them.

"I can't help feel there's a connection between us Riska. Who knows if it means that we're actually falling for each other. And I know you've been around for a long time, and you've seen every scenario of bad outcomes out there, but I just want to understand why I feel this way for you. Why just seeing you makes me want to pull you into my arms, why holding your hand made me relax." Rowen insisted.

"I know, I know." Riska repeated in a whisper.

"You know what?" Rowen asked.

"Your virtue is life, mine is hope. How can you have life without hope? Your armor is of Strata, the sky, and mine is of Souls. The sky is closest to the world of spirits than any other element. Our armors mirror our own nature, and they align with each other almost perfectly. It only makes sense they try to push us towards one another." Riska lowered her head.

Rowen blinked a few times as he looked down at Riska. Slowly he used two fingers to lift up Riska's face from her chin so that he could look at her again.

"Do you honestly believe that?" He asked.

Riska nodded.

"Does that mean you have been attracted to every bearer of Strata before me?" Rowen asked calmly not reacting to Riska's surprised look.

"No." Riska finally whispered.

"Then perhaps we will fight well together, but I think this… these feelings we seem to have for one another. I think they're something completely different."

Riska turned her head away from Rowen, "it doesn't mean we should let them influence us to play chance and act on them."

"I don't mind a challenge." Rowen replied softly.

Riska looked up to Rowen, overhead a shooting star shot across the sky. Rowen gently put his hand into Riska hair feeling the damp strands go through his fingers. Slowly his mouth came closer to Riska's and Riska tilted her head up.

Rowen could feel Riska's warm breath on his lips; he felt his eyes slowly closing as they began to close the final distance.

Suddenly a yell came from inside the house.

Rowen and Riska immediately separated and created a few feet of space between them.

"That was Cye." Rowen said looking at the house then back at Riska.

"Go, I'll be right behind you." She insisted before going to grab her clothes from a dry spot away from the springs.

Rowen ran to the house leaving Riska behind needing to get to his friends as quick as he could.


	12. Chapter 12

Rowen ran into the house and stopped when he got into the door.

He watched the scene before him. Kento was sitting next to Cye with his hand on his shoulder. Ryo and Sage were standing up on the opposite side of the table watching their friends. Ryo was holding a fist at his side. Cye was holding his hands up to his face as he slowly rocked on his heels muttering, "not again, not again."

"What happened?" Rowen asked as he joined Sage's side.

No one said anything and only Cye's muttering could be heard. Behind Rowen he heard soft footsteps as Riska joined the group, he didn't turn to look at her.

"I'm an idiot." Ryo finally groaned, he opened his fist and showed Rowen the dice that he had been gripping. On Ryo's skin Rowen could see imprints of the dice showing just how hard Ryo was gripping the objects.

"What do you mean?" Rowen asked looking up from the dice.

"We were just playing Chō-Han and I rolled two ones." Ryo explained. "I said the first thing that came to mind."

"Snake eyes." Sage muttered. A groan escaped Cye's lips.

"Cye just began to thrash and yell…" Ryo continued.

"It was like he was in battle." Kento said, "I had to tackle him to make him stop."

"Memories," Riska finally said, "of before. It happens to the best of warriors. You remember the battles you've been through and a simple phrase could reactivate all the feelings of what you felt in a specific moment. It could make you flash back to it and you end up reliving it."

"You mean, PTSD." Rowen asked.

"Is that what they call it now?" Riska asked.

Rowen didn't answer; instead he walked over to Cye and put his hand on his other shoulder.

"It's alright Cye. We're all safe here."

"I know that, but I can't help these flashbacks. Even though we finished our fight with Talpa and his warlords, I'm still fighting them in my dreams and sometimes, even when I'm awake." Cye looked up to his friends. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Cye." Sage said quickly, "I get them too."

Everyone looked at Sage, "I get more night terrors than anything. I'll wake up in the middle of the night yelling out a battle cry my heart running a mile a minute."

"I haven't heard you do that." Rowen pointed out.

"You sleep like a rock, of course you don't." Sage replied smoothly.

Ryo nodded, "me too, I don't even sleep most nights anymore. That's why I would always leave for days at a time; I was hoping getting out into the mountains would help clear my mind. It didn't help so I began to train instead, it kept my mind busy."

"I… can't sleep either." Kento finally admitted, "I just can't get myself relaxed enough to, and it makes me feel guilty. One day I was so tired I snapped at my little sister, I just yelled at her for not make sticky buns right. She looked at me like I was a monster."

"I get nightmares too," Rowen said last, "and I've honestly been going to library just to be alone… I don't study much."

The Ronins looked at each other, they wondered how they had been changing their behaviors without the others noticing.

"Let me teach you all how to manage these memories." Riska said, "If you keep them locked inside as you have been they will tear you all apart, which is what Zetsumei wants."

"And just how do you plan on helping us?" Kento asked.

"I will teach you techniques to help you all relax when anxiety is at its highest and how to speak to each other more in your battles." Riska told them calmly, "right now you are all fighting separate battles, but together, you can win any war."

The Ronins looked at each other trying to decide what they wanted to do. Riska was asking them to show how vulnerable they really were and trust that she could help them overcome it.

Sage wanted to tell her no way, but at the same time he could feel how everything that weighed down on him was affecting him in everyday life and especially battle. However, he doubted Riska could understand exactly how to help them. She had been under Talpa's power for so long, unthinking and following orders. Then when she left the Nether Realm she simply went through time watching people as they lived and die, all the while knowing she would just keep going. He wondered how much she could actually relate to them. Sage looked at Riska, he had to admit she was strong through on the surface, maybe underneath she really did understand them.

"When can we start?" Cye finally asked he sounded like he was almost back to normal. Sage looked at his friend seeing how determined me looked, and it made Sage feel strong.

"Tonight. Meet me in the foothills in an hour, and be in your under armors." Riska ordered then turned and left the room before anyone else could put another word in.

Rowen watched her leave but then suddenly chased after her. The other Ronins watched him go.

"Riska." Rowen called as he jogged after Riska, she was almost through the gate but froze when she heard Rowen coming after her.

She turned to the blue-haired boy and looked at him with a neutral expression.

"Riska, I wanted to sorry I'm sorry about my behavior before… by the hot springs." Rowen told her as he caught up.

Riska sighed and let her face drop, "Rowen…go get ready to train." Then without another word Riska walked away, out of the gate and into the foothills.

Rowen sighed; when he turned around he paused when he spotted a small wisp of light floating lazily above a stone next to the garden's pond.

"Kodama." Rowen whispered.


	13. Chapter 13

Rowen walked up to the Kodama to get a closer look, as he did so the wisp changed shape until it resembled a small rabbit. It looked at him with the same curious look that Rowen had. Slowly he reached out his hand to touch it.

“Hey, Rowen.” Ryo called out, the kodama disappeared instantly.

Rowen blinked trying to decide if he was just seeing a hallucination or not.

“Rowen, are you ready to go?” Ryo asked as he jogged up to Rowen’s side, he wore his under armor.

“Umm, yea.” Rowen replied as he stood up straight as he pulled his orb out and summoned his under armor.

Ryo and Rowen walked out of the garden towards the foot hills. Behind them the other Ronins followed quietly. Above the stars twinkled as if they were talking to one another.

When they eventually spotted Riska they saw her standing on the top of a small mound, her full armor was on. Her hand was raised up in a relaxed position as she supported what looked like a white owl. The owl let off a soft white light; its eyes were white as well. As the Ronins came closer they heard Riska whispering to it, then with a quick bounce of her arm the owl flew off into the sky.

“Anyone else just see what I saw?” Kento asked in a whisper.

“Yea. A spirit.” Ryo replied with a whisper as the others nodded.

Riska turned to the boys, she looked troubled. Rowen pushed back the urge to ask her what was wrong, but it didn’t stop Cye.

“What going on?” Cye asked.

“That was one of my watchers from the Mortal Realm. It would see that the Nether Realm is creating more chaos and anarchy than I had originally expected. Our training will have to speed up so that we can return earlier.” Riska answered.

“What kind of chaos?” Ryo asked he looked ready to spring into action.

“They’re terrorizing people around the world, and the people are sending out their armies only to have them turn back in surrender or to be completely obliterated. Mia had managed to convince Japan to stand down, but the others don’t believe her as easily. And the Nether Realm is taking prisoners to turn into their personal slaves.”

Kento ground his teeth, “we need to leave now!”

“No, we need to train Kento.” Ryo replied quickly trying to calm his friend down, “Riska was right, we’re not fighting as a team as we once did. We need to re-learn how to do that.”

Riska nodded, “I promise I will get us back as soon as possible. We are lucky that for every two days here is only one there.”

The Ronins gave Riska a surprised look, they hadn’t realized it.

“We don’t have time to dawdle, Ronins. We must get to work.” Riska said as she pulled out her razor fans. “Now, fight me.”

Riska suddenly summoned a small army of spirits, many resembled samurai of many centuries past. She attacked with the Ronins immediately making them go on the defense. As she pushed them to their limits in their under armors they one by one transformed into their armors. For most of the Ronins it was the first time they were their armors since Suzunagi gave it to them. At first their movements were awkward as they tried to adjust to wearing armor again. However, as the first few hours passed they became confident again.

Riska both fought against the Ronins and tried to assist them with suggestions and supported them when they hesitated in battle.

They kept at it into the early hours of dawn and yet Riska still did not let them stop. Even when Kento grew impatient and tried to wipe out all of the spirits at once Riska didn’t allow them to stop.

“You all still fight on your own. Show me that you can fight together.”

As the Ronins were falling to their knees out of exhaustion they looked at each other trying to figure out how to defeat Riska’s spirits and become a team once more.

Slowly Rowen stood up and blocked spirits for this other brothers in arms who were on the ground. Ryo joined him and they began to fight together. Soon the others joined them.

“Kento, take the right flank. Cye, you take the left.” Ryo yelled out as he parried an attack from the spirits of a warrior in front of him. “Sage use your thunder bolt cut to create a lane down the middle.”

Sage jumped to stand beside Ryo and summoned his armor’s power.

“Thunder bolt cut!” He cried out as he released his attack.

“Rowen, now!” Ryo cried as he summoned his own armor’s power, “Flare up now!”

“Arrow shockwave!” Rowen released an arrow straight down the opening Sage had created as Ryo’s column of fire surrounded the arrow to make it powerful.

The attack went towards Riska, and a bright light covered the foothills they stood in.

The Ronins blocked their eyes from the light, and when it disappeared they looked up again. They saw the spirits were gone and Riska stood protected in a purple bubble that her armor had produced, and she was smiling.

Riska walked over to the exhausted Ronins, as she did the bubble disappeared.

“There are the Ronins that fought and defeated Talpa and the Nether Realm the first time.” Riska said happily.

The other Ronins smiled and looked at each other, each one panting to catch their breath.

“You did great, go rest. I will make preparations to return to the Mortal Realm.”

The Ronins filed back to the house and took turns drinking water from the spring and bathing in the hot springs while inside they ate in silence. Riska didn’t come for them the rest of the day and the Ronins found themselves getting jittery with waiting. They itched to get back to their home land and defeat Zetsumei.

Eventually they decided to try to relax as they made supper and did some training exercises.

Rowen sat in the doorway looking outside up at the stars for the last time. He thought about Riska and how he wished he could try to figure out his feelings for her.

The Ronins went to sleep late with the anticipation of getting back to the Mortal Realm and fighting on their minds.

The next morning Riska finally came back to them. With her stood White Blaze at her side, the tiger stood close to her as if to say he had her back.

“This time when we go back through the dimensional channels we are going to be attacked for sure. We are no longer able to hide from Zetsumei after we leave from here. That means that we all must be fully aware and at the top of our game. You’ve already seen a taste of his power, so I trust you will not under estimate him. Always expect the unexpected from him and no matter what, keep fighting together even if we’re separated.” Riska told them calmly.

Kento stood up first, to everyone’s surprise, and he approached Riska. Rowen began to get up to stop him from doing anything stupid but stopped when Kento reached out and place a hand on Riska’s shoulder.

“We’ll follow you to the end.” He said.

The other Ronins nodded in agreement. Slowly they headed back outside and created a circle with Riska in the middle. As Riska began to summon a door to transport the group back to the Mortal Realm the Ronins immediately transformed into their armors and took defensive stances to be ready for battle.

They instantly began to feel as if they were being stretched and twisted. A wave of nausea came over Kento but he fought it back.

Even though they were ready for a fight, none met them. There were no signs of Lady Yuri or the Nether soldiers as they went through the dimensional channel. The silence made the Ronins nervous.

Then, almost as soon as they were in the channel they were out and reemerged outside in the woods next to Mia’s house. As soon as they all felt back to normal again they stood up straight and looked at each other.

The woods around them were silent, there didn’t seem to be a sign of life anywhere nearby.

“Something is wrong.” Riska said breaking the silence. Her armor clinked as she moved to look around.

“No kidding.” Kento muttered.

“No, I mean, the perimeter. The one that was around the house to protect it, it’s gone.” Riska said.

Sage turned to look at Riska, his eyes wide. Then, without another word Sage ran towards the house in the clearing.

“Sage!” Rowen yelled after his friend before chasing after him. The other Ronins followed.

Sage ran into the house without listening to his friends then suddenly stopped in the living room.

“Sage, it could be a trap.” Rowen said touching his friend’s shoulder as he stopped behind him.

“Or it could be too late.” Sage whispered.

The other Ronins entered the room and stopped to look around with Sage and Rowen.

It was a mess, the couches and tables were overturned. The television was on the floor broken into pieces. As the group moved throughout the house the scene was similar in every room.

As they searched they came to the unfortunate realization that Mia was kidnapped and the Nether Realm had stolen scrolls she had kept for safe keeping about the Ronins with them.

“How could we just leave her?” Sage yelled from anger, he picked up a mug from the kitchen counter and threw it at the cabinets. It shattered upon impact, “she should have come with us!”

“You know she couldn’t.” Rowen told his friend calmly as he picked up the broken stools from the breakfast counter off the floor.

“Couldn’t or Riska didn’t want her to?” Sage demanded.

“You think she could’ve handled the journey through the dimensions?” Rowen asked, “think about it Sage. We felt like we were being pulled apart going through it, and we were being protected by our armors the entire time. I calculated it and there’s no way a normal person could have gone through those channels the same way we did.”

“Mia isn’t just anyone though, Rowen. She’s the reason we all survived the first time we fought the Nether Realm. If it wasn’t for her, we may not have had a chance to win against Talpa.” Sage hit his fist against the counter, it cracked from his force.

“I don’t think getting angry and creating more damage to her home is going to help.” Rowen pointed out.

Cye walked through the halls looking into each bedroom to see if the Nether Realm took anything else from the house. As he walked out of the room that he and Kento had shared at one point he bent down and picked up an ancient vase that seemed to be save from destruction.

“Why would they want to take Mia and those scrolls?” Cye wondered aloud.

“Leverage,” Riska replied, “and knowledge.”

Cye turned to look at Riska.

“They know that Mia is an asset to you all, and that those scrolls recorded everything that had to do with the Ronins in the past. Including each armor’s weaknesses, and Zetsumei would jump at any chance to find ways to defeat us.” She explained.

“But, these armors are different than the ones before.” Cye replied.

“They are made from the same virtues that made the ones before, even if they are no longer made of Talpa’s armor.” Riska sighed, “I am regretful that I left Mia alone, I thought the protection spell on the mansion would hold against Zetsumei’s attempts to get to her.”

“You knew she was going to be attacked?” Kento demanded from behind Riska.

She turned to look at him, “I had a feeling, but I did not know for sure.”

Kento’s fist shook and as he opened his mouth to argue with Riska for endangering their friend he was interrupted.

“Guys! In here!” Ryo called from Mia’s office.

All the Ronins ran to the room. Kento, Cye, and Riska got there first followed by Rowen and finally Sage. Sage pushed to the front of the group to stand next to Ryo. He glared at what he saw in front of him.

On the wall was writing which said: _Ronins come out and play._

The worst part that made Sage want to punch a hole in the middle of the wall was that it was written in blood, Mia’s blood.


	14. Chapter 14

Kento sat as lookout on the ridge that overlooked the city below. He was absent mindedly swinging his tetsubo as he watched the small fires that dotted the city blocks. The Nether Realm seemed to be busy burning down anything they didn't deem useful to them while "remodeling" other buildings to fit their needs. Every fiber in Kento's body wished he was down there fighting but he knew it was best they waited until the daytime to come.

After discovering the writing on the wall in Mia's house the Ronins had immediately left and headed for the city. They traveled off of any of the main highways then scouted out a place where they could stay the night while keeping an eye on the city.

They had chosen a ridge that was in the hills near enough to the city that they could see into some of the closer streets. Riska and Ryo then sat and watched the movement of the Nether soldiers to figure out their routes and habits.

It came as no surprise when they determined that there were more Nether soldiers around beginning at dusk and into the evening hours. Even the number of Nether spirits increased.

What did surprise everyone though was when Rowen spotted in the windows of several buildings all the people that had been captured by Zetsumei. They seemed to be stuffed into the buildings like cattle. Occasionally a soldier would take a few out and lead them towards the Tokyo Imperial Palace where Zetsumei was protected by layers of Nether soldiers and mortal military soldiers.

"That's a lot of security for someone who is supposed to be great and powerful." Sage had commented.

"What do you think happens to anyone that goes in?" Cye asked quietly.

"No idea, I bet they don't come back out though." Ryo stated as he cracked his knuckles.

"Do you think those soldiers are being controlled by Zetsumei or they're there on their own free-will?" Rowen asked.

"Zetsumei is controlling them. Their eyes are red, a sign that a Nether spirit is possessing them. I fear, when the time comes, they'll only be decoys and pawns in battle." Riska sighed.

"Then we'll make sure to not hurt them." Kento insisted.

"I wish it will be that easy, Kento, I really do. However, knowing my brother, it won't be." Riska had told him.

Kento slammed the end of his tetsubo in the ground creating a small crater with its impact as he snapped back his focus into the present.

"What's on your mind?" Sage asked as he came out of the cover of the woods.

Kento looked up at him then back down at the small crater he had created.

"I want so badly to be down there right now, fighting. We need to free those people; he has my family down there. Not to mention, Mia, who knows what he's doing to her." Kento explained his voice hummed with anger.

Sage nodded and looked at the Imperial Palace below; it glowed with the light of the hundreds of candles inside.

"I understand, but I also know that Mia would want us to stay level-headed in the situation. Rushing in down there in attack mode won't help her or anyone else. We need a plan before we just run down there and fight." Sage explained his heart ached at knowing Mia was captured and possibly wounded down below.

Kento groaned, "I know. It's just that I'm not sure that following Riska into battle is the best thing. She just keeps preaching to us about how we need to stick together. Don't you think we know that already? And wouldn't that be the best plan to get rid of us?"

"If she was working with Zetsumei she wouldn't have helped us like she has. You need to just trust her, Kento." Sage told Kento.

Kento took a deep breath, he knew Sage was right.

"Alright, I'll wait, but any sign that she's working against us and I'm going to go after her myself." He finally told his friend.

* * *

Just outside the camp where Rowen, Cye, and White Blaze sat watching the fire, Ryo and Riska stood in the dark.

Riska let out a breath and shook her hair out as she took her helmet off and held onto it.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Ryo asked Riska as he watched her.

"I need you to be able to call upon the Inferno armor tomorrow if the time comes." Riska told him quickly.

Ryo took a step back and blinked a few times, "wait what?"

"If it proves that we are not able to push Zetsumei back by our individual armors alone, I need you to call upon the Inferno armor."

Ryo let out a laugh, "no way, that armor has caused just as much problems and pain for us than help."

"Ryo, you and the other Ronins are strong. But, I fear that Zetsumei may have found a way to be stronger." Riska told Ryo with a sigh.

"What do you mean? You were just telling us not too long ago that we could beat him." Ryo told Riska, anger was welling up in his voice.

"I know, and I do think we could. However, I also have reason to believe that Zetsumei has meddled into affairs of something stronger than any of us have seen before."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, but something about how he has so many of those soldiers under his control isn't right. I've never seen so many people possessed like that; I can't even sense their souls." Ryo noticed that Riska's hands were shaking like she was holding in her fear. He decided against reaching out to her.

"Riska, I understand how you feel, but we're strong. All of us, even you. We can beat Zetsumei and his war lords without the Inferno armor." Ryo promised.

Riska sighed, "Please, Ryo, just in case."

Ryo looked up to the sky and watched the black clouds overhead swirl, his mind raced with memories of his training, battles, and his fellow brothers in arms. When he looked back down he saw that Riska was watching him the whole time.

"Why did you come to me in my dreams when I was younger?" Ryo asked.

Riska looked surprised, "you remember?"

Ryo smirked, "I figured I shouldn't bring it up, unless I had to. So, why did you? And no riddles or long stories, I want the simple answer."

Riska gave Ryo a faint smile, "I couldn't meet you in person because I was trapped in the spirit world, but I wanted to see if you were like him."

"Who?" Ryo asked approaching Riska.

"Hariel." She breathed.

Ryo was silenced by the answer, he knew about the original bearer of the Inferno armor and of how he became thirsty for power as a result of the armor.

"Am I?" Ryo finally asked.

Riska shook her head, "you are nothing like him."

Ryo nodded, "I will… do whatever is necessary to end the threat of the Nether Realm, and if it means the Inferno armor. Then so be it."

"Thank you." Riska whispered.

Ryo nodded and began to walk back towards the camp.

"One more request, Ryo."

"Yes?"

"My destiny is to protect you all in battle, however, if something happens…"

"I'll make sure Rowen doesn't do anything stupid." Ryo finished for her before walking away leaving her alone in the woods.

"Thank you." Riska whispered once more.

* * *

As midnight came Rowen took his spot on the ledge to watch over the city below. He watched as Nether soldiers marched up and down the streets watching everything around them. Above the buildings floated Nether spirits, Rowen could feel the vibrations that their humming gave off all the way up where he was. The soldiers that had been possessed stood silent and frozen in place their red eyes glowed in the night.

"I've been trying to figure out how Zetsumei has so many under his control like that." Riska's voice came from behind him. She walked up beside Rowen and looked down at the scene below. "Talpa was always able to take control of people with the help of his warlords and Nether spirits, but it was nothing on this level. There have to be close to three-hundred people under his control down there and yet he still has more than enough Nether spirits to patrol the skies."

"Should we be worried?" Rowen asked.

"Not yet." Riska told him.

Rowen nodded then looked at Riska, the only source of light that lit up her face was the moon that would occasionally try to break through the clouds above. Her green eyes still seemed to be lit up all on their own.

"I really do think you're beautiful." Rowen said as he watched Riska tense up. "Please, don't run off on me this time." Rowen took Riska's hand and she try to pull it back. "I don't know exactly how I feel about you; all I know is that I want to be given a chance to find out."

Riska looked down at her feet.

"I understand that you want to keep a distance from us because you've seen so many other Ronins live and die. But, don't you think that you shouldn't deprive yourself from living?"

Riska looked up at Rowen.

"All that I ask is that you look me in the eye and tell me that you don't feel the same way I do." Rowen asked the girl before him.

He watched as Riska opened his mouth but nothing came out. She seemed to be struggling internally. Rowen couldn't help but touch her cheek to try to reassure her. Riska leaned into Rowen's touch, it was warm and comforting.

"I cannot deny it Rowen…" She whispered.

Rowen slowly moved closer to Riska until he embraced her. He waited for her to push against him but she didn't. He felt her breathing against his neck as he held her and then he felt her tears.

_She's… crying._ He thought in a panic and pulled back to look down at her face.

"Riska?"

"I'm sorry Rowen, I do care about you. But, I'm scared that because of that something terrible will happen. Anytime I have ever cared deeply about anyone it had always ended in tragedy."

"I won't let that happen." Rowen whispered.

Riska smiled at Rowen and embraced him once again, Rowen returned the embrace. They stood together like that for a while.

"Promise me, that tomorrow, if something happens that you will do what is necessary to defeat Zetsumei. Don't worry about me." Riska asked Rowen.

Rowen looked down at Riska wanting to disagree with her.

"I'm supposed to protect you and your Ronin brothers. You can hardly fight if you're trying to protect me too. So, I need you to promise that you will concentrate on defeating Zetsumei and his forces." Riska explained.

Rowen nodded, "I understand. I promise that I'll make sure that we defeat Zetsumei no matter what, but you must promise that you'll be careful as well."

Riska looked up and Rowen and smiled, "you are nothing like anyone I have ever met before. So, persistent."

She reached up on her toes and gave Rowen a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I promise." She whispered in Rowen's ear, it made him shiver.

"I promise too." Rowen whispered back.

The two leaned close to each other.

* * *

"Foolish Ronins, they think they are hidden from our view up there." Matlal mocked as he watched the looking glass's picture. It showed the Ronins in their camp talking then flashed to Rowen and Riska.

Morpheus laughed, "It seems like Shōkōjo hasn't learned her lesson from the last time she fell for a Ronin."

"Perhaps we should head up there now and teach her again what happens when you fall for those you are sworn to protect." Enkidu mocked.

"Enough." Zetsumei ordered his warlords to be silent. Lady Yuri stood at his side in a revealing white dress that flowed down to her feet, she winced at his order.

"We will not run hastily into battle with them. Shōkōjo has been training them, so that means they are now more acquainted with their new armor. No, we will wait until tomorrow and allow them to be naive of their safety. When we meet them in battle on their terms we will then show them the true power of my dynasty." Zetsumei stated, he stood up and walked up to the looking glass. He watched as Riska and Rowen embraced one another in peace. "And then I will personally show Shōkōjo and her new lover what true suffering is."


	15. Chapter 15

"I expected a bit more of a welcome party." Sage muttered as he walked with the other Ronins into Tokyo's city limits.

"It's the silence before the storm." Ryo replied. The bearer of the Wildfire armor looked up at the buildings nearby. The windows were clear and no sign of life seemed to appear anyway, even the sewer rats seemed to be missing.

"Agreed, we know that some of these buildings have people imprisoned in them. We just have to figure out which ones they are. I bet you that Zetsumei set some up as illusions to mix us up." Cye said as he tried to peer into the buildings better.

"Quiet." Rowen said hushing his friends, "did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kento asked.

"I thought I heard voices, be quiet, I want to try to listen." Rowen waved his hand as he leaned his head towards where he thought he heard something.

Everyone looked in the direction he was leaning the grip on their weapons tightened.

At first they heard nothing but slowly the sound of armor clinking together as if a group of soldiers were marching grow in volume. Among the sound of armor they also heard the sound of people struggling to walk. Their cries begging the soldiers to let them go echoed in the streets.

"This way." Riska suddenly announced and began to run down a street to the east.

The Ronins ran after Riska to follow her and stopped as they all spotted a group of Nether soldiers roughly moving a small group of hostages towards the palace.

Riska didn't hesitate as she went after the soldiers in an attempt to free them.

Ryo followed her into battle and soon after everyone else did as well. The battle was quick and before they knew it most of the soldiers were lying on the ground and the hostages were thanking the Ronins before they ran away to get out of the city.

"Hey, come back here!" Kento yelled as he suddenly began to chase a Nether soldier who was trying to escape into a nearby building.

"Kento!" Cye called and chased after his friend.

"Great, he's probably running straight into a trap." Sage groaned and went after both Kento and Cye.

Rowen, Ryo, and Riska looked at each other then quickly followed suit.

They ran into the building after the soldier where Kento caught up with it and wrapped his arm around its neck.

"You can't out run me, bucket head." Kento hissed.

"I wasn't trying to." The Nether Realm said then suddenly went limp and the Nether force within it rose out of its armor like smoke into the sky.

Kento growled and tossed the now empty armor to the ground.

"Kento…" Cye whispered as he and the other Ronins caught up.

"I know, I know, stupid move Hardrock." Kento mocked.

"No, Kento, look up." Rowen told him.

When Kento looked up he froze like his other companions. In the building were hundreds of hostages. Moans filled the air with a stink that made Kento cover his face.

"What is that?" Kento asked about the smell.

"It's death." Riska whispered coming to his side, she looked horrified as she looked at the innocent people in the building.

Everyone in the building was lying down, many on top of one another. Some used the walls for support while others sat back to back. The worst part though was the dead bodies mixed with the live ones. Many were covered in buboes or skin lesions, but almost all were coughing and moaning as they waited for their fate.

"Oh god, what happened to them?" Ryo gasped as he reached out to help someone who had fallen over and was struggling to get back up.

"We were only gone a couple days." Rowen said he couldn't get himself to move from the doorway. "No plague could spread this quickly."

"Matlal." Riska whispered, "he did this to all these people."

"Matlal?" Sage asked, "One of Zetsumei's warlords?"

Riska nodded silently, "he's the warlord of Pestilence, plague, and he cast his spell over these people so that they would become sick with a disease no mortal has ever seen before."

"Guys! You need to come over here!" Cye cried out. He was near the center of the room kneeling with someone in his arms.

The Ronins quickly made their way over, careful to not step on anyone. The cries of help from everyone in the room filled their ears.

When they reached Cye the boys nearly dropped to their knees all at once when they realized who he was holding.

"No, no, little buddy. No." Kento moaned as he reached out and touched Yulie's lesion covered hand.

The teen boy barely had his eyes open and his breathing was shallow but he was still alive. He was covered in lesions, and his lips were cracked from being dry.

"You… you… all made it…" Yulie whispered with a smile then began to cough, Cye held him up properly so that he could catch his breath.

"What happened Yulie? I thought you made it out of the city." Sage asked sadly.

"I… we… did." Yulie gasped to try to catch his breath again, "but… they came after us… They captured… people all over… the world… and brought them here."

"Why?" Rowen asked.

"Example." Yulie croaked out.

"He wanted them to be examples for us." Riska said knowing what Yulie meant, the Ronins looked up at her, "they wanted us to see what they can do. I think they brought Yulie here though, because they knew what he meant to you. Just like they knew about Mia."

"I'm going to kill them." Kento growled, Rowen put a hand on his shoulder.

"We all want revenge for this Rowen, but we can't just try to kill them off head on." Rowen explained.

Yulie coughed violently which made them look back at their young friend. Blood covered the boy's lips as he shivered in Cye's arms.

"Do something!" Kento ordered as he stood up and pointed at Yulie and looked at Riska. "Heal him or… or something!"

Riska took a step back and shook her head, "I can't, there's nothing I can do."

"You have powers that none of us have, why can't you heal him. This plague is Nether Realm magic!" Kento yelled.

Riska looked down at Yulie sadly, "I can only travel between dimensions and guide souls to the afterlife. I cannot heal the boy."

Kento reached his arm out towards Riska as if he was going to try to choke her. Sage quickly grabbed Kento's hand and wrapped Hardrock's arm behind his back to make him stop.

"Stop it, Kento!" Sage yelled angrily.

"This is what Zetsumei wants; he wants us upset, angry, and ready to go after each other's necks." Ryo stated. He turned to Cye and nodded. Cye carefully picked up Yulie, the boy let out a soft cry from the movement. "We'll find somewhere safe for him until we can find a cure."

"There isn't one." Riska whispered, "the only way to heal Yulie and these people is to defeat Zetsumei then send him and his warlords to the Void."

"Void?" Cye asked.

"A place with no light, darkness, or life. Only the worst of being are sent there for eternity." Riska explained.

"Then that's our goal." Ryo said with finality, "how do we send them there?"

Riska took a deep breath, "the only way is to weaken them and then… I can make a portal and you can send them through. However, we will only have one shot at it."

"We'll take it." Ryo said with confidence. Riska looked up at Ryo then the rest of the Ronins, she looked sad but nodded.

"Very well." Riska whispered.

"Riska?" Rowen said softly, something about how she agreed to the plan made him feel something was wrong, as if she wasn't telling them something.

She looked up at Rowen and gave him a half-smile.

Outside though they heard a voice echo in the streets. It mocked the Ronins inside the building.

"Poor Ronins." It said, "Found on of their little mortal friends on his deathbed. What will they do?"

"Matlal." Riska said and turned to look out the door.

Kento broke free from Sage, "I'm going to take care of Matlal myself." He hissed and ran out of the building without looking back.

"Kento!" Cye yelled after his friend, he turned to Sage and had him take Yulie then he chased after Hardrock.

"Sage, find somewhere safe for Yulie!" Ryo called before following with Rowen and Riska.

"Don't worry kid; we'll make sure you live through this." Sage promised Yulie who had fallen into a restless sleep in his arms.


	16. Chapter 16

Kento felt rage flow through his veins with an unstoppable force. A part of him knew running into battle alone against the warlord was stupid, but he couldn't stop himself. Not with what Matlal did to all those people, especially Yulie. He listened to Matlal's laughter as it echoed in the empty street.

"Why do you hesitate Ronin? Do you not wish to fight me?" Matlal mocked.

Kento ground his teeth and began to jump up the side of the building to reach the roof. He faintly acknowledged the flash of Cye's light blue armor as his friend followed him.

On the roof Kento looked around, the Nether spirits had left the air in the immediate vicinity.

"Kento." Cye said to his friend trying to calm him.

"He's up here somewhere." Kento said as he looked around.

"I'm right here." Matlal suddenly appeared on the edge of the building. He held his double-sided spear at his side; the warlord did not wear his helmet allowing his long dirty blonde hair get into his face. The Ronins could look directly into his bloodshot eyes.

Kento let out a cry and went in for an attack, Cye followed.

Matlal smiled as he blocked Kento's and Cye's initial attacks. With ease he knocked both Ronins to the ground, laughing as he did so.

"You are weak, just like your little friend. What is it he is called? Yulie?" Matlal asked as he stabbed his spear down towards Cye's throat, but he was suddenly pushed to the side by Kento.

Kento tackled him towards the edge of the building until they were both falling from the top.

The ground crumbled beneath them like it was made of clay instead of asphalt upon impact of their bodies. Without hesitation they both got back up and began to fight once more. Kento swung his tetsubo at Matlal who parried it before trying his own attack. The two continued their battle as Cye joined them on ground and began to back up Kento.

* * *

Riska, Ryo, and Rowen looked up to the buildings around them. They could still hear the cries of the sick and dying behind them.

"Where did they go?" Ryo asked looking up.

"No idea, did you see what direction they went in?" Rowen replied looking down the streets.

They heard Sage run out of the building, "what's going on?"

Ryo let out a frustrated growl, "Kento and Cye disappeared." He kicked a piece of rubble at his feet.

* * *

Kento, Cye, and Matlal moved through the empty Tokyo streets dodging and attacking at every turn. Cars were crushed under their blows, while windows in the buildings around them were blown in with the glass becoming nothing but dust.

"Enough of playing around!" Matlal declared. He pushed both Ronins back with his spear then swung it in a circle. "Nightshade Snare!" As Matlal's spear hit the ground vines covered in thorns came up out of ground chasing after Kento and Cye.

"Don't let it touch you!" Cye called.

"Why?" Kento called back as they both jumped over cars and trucks.

"Look what it touches, anything that is living." Cye told Kento who looked over his shoulder. They watched as the vine wrapped itself around a tree that was planted in the boulevard, its green leaves instantly turned brown as the tree died.

Kento's eyes widened in shock, a new wave of anger overcame him as he pictured how those vines could have been the very thing to make all those people sick.

"Stop!" Kento yelled to Cye as he suddenly stopped and turned to the oncoming vines.

"What are you doing?" Cye demanded as he stopped not that far from Kento. "We can't let those things touch us."

"We won't." Kento said calmly, he lifted his tetsubo and began to spin it above his head, "Iron Rock Crusher!"

Cye nodded and lifted his man catcher, "Super Wave Smasher!"

Their attacks hit their target perfectly; a bright light engulfed the vines. As their attack overcame Matlal's a suddenly blast came from where the three powers collided. A shockwave blasted Cye and Kento back off the cars they stood on and into the ground. They gasped as air escaped their lungs from hitting the ground so hard.

As they laid on the ground recovering they heard Matlal walk towards them slowly clapping.

"Very well done, Ronins, you have proved you have fight in you yet. That boy had some fight in him as well."

Kento and Cye both glared at Matlal and went to get up but they found themselves held back by some invisible force.

"What?" Cye asked quietly.

Matlal continued as if he couldn't hear them. "When we first captured him he was among so many other mortals on the bus you sent him out of town with. He had his bokken with him, of course, thought he could protect everyone with that thing. Stupid child kept telling me how his Ronin Warrior friends were going to save him, how you were going to show up at any moment." Matlal waved his double-sided spear slowly summoning more vines at his feet. "He didn't even back down as I beat him down first before killing off each person on the bus one at a time. Not even as I held him at his throat and slowly allowed my poison into his veins did he stop blabbing about how you were going to save him."

"You bastard." Kento growled.

"How could you." Cye echoed.

"Do not worry; I have a similar fate in mind for you as well. A slow death as you feel my poison go through your veins as the boy did in his. Then you will crumple in pain as you feel it eat you from the inside out until all that is left is your beating heart. Because, my poison, it allows you to live until you can feel every bit of your body die."

Kento let out a yell of despair, "he won't die. He was right, we will save him!"

Matlal laughed hysterically, "He will die, and I have his life in my hands!" He produced a small white ball of light in his hand, "see this, all I need to do is squeeze it and his is dead. Perhaps I shall do that now!" His bony fingers wrapped around the ball and began to tighten his grip.

"No!" Kento yelled, he felt tears coming to his eyes. He could almost hear Yulie's cries from where he was.

The sound of rubble cracking and getting crushed caused Kento to turn his head and watch as Cye broke from the invisible bonds that held him down.

Cye's forehead glowed with his virtue of Trust. In an eerie silence he raised his man catcher to eye level and summoned his armors power.

"What are you doing Torrent?" Matlal demanded, "Looking for me to crush you again? Like I did on the beach?"

Cye didn't answer which made Matlal raise an eyebrow.

"Super… Wave… Smasher!" Cye called, his attack went towards Matlal who blocked the attack the best he could with this double-sided spear.

"You will not defeat me with your power alone." Matlal said through gritted teeth.

"He's not alone." Kento said as he slowly stood up, his own virtue of Justice. "Iron Rock Crusher!"

Kento's attack wave joined Cye's. Matlal yelled out as he tried to deflect the attack. Without warning the warlord suddenly lost his grip on the small white ball that controlled Yulie's fate.

Everyone watched it drop then all at once dived for it.

* * *

Riska looked around her carefully as the other Ronins grew worried and impatient.

"There's something going on here, something is different with the Nether Realm." She said aloud.

"What do you mean different?" Rowen asked as he got an arrow ready in case he needed to shoot it.

"Sage, is Yulie somewhere safe?" Riska asked turning towards the bearer of the Halo armor.

"Yes, as safe as he could be in our situation." Sage assured her. "What's going on?"

"I think Zetsumei has stumbled upon more power than Talpa could have ever dreamed of." Riska said, but before she could elaborate White Blaze suddenly came running towards the group from around the corner.

"White Blaze what is it?" Ryo asked as he watched his trusted companion stop and roar out a message. "I think he found something."

Ryo started to run towards White Blaze.

"Maybe it's Mia." Sage called after him and chased after Ryo.

"Wait!" Riska cried out and tried to give chase.

As she tried to catch up she suddenly yelped as she ran into an invisible barrier. Ryo and Sage were so caught up with chasing after White Blaze that they didn't notice.

"What is this?" Rowen asked as he caught up to Riska. He took the tip of his arrow and tried to touch the barrier, it instantly blocked the arrow from trying to go through.

"I don't know." Riska whispered.

Rowen and Riska looked at each other.

"But, I think that Zetsumei is purposely trying to get us to go in different directions." Riska explained.

"What do we do?"

"Follow where he wishes us to go." Riska replied simply.

"I don't think that's the best plan." Rowen told her slowly.

"It's the only thing we can do, for now." Riska told Rowen before turning and going in the opposite direction.

Rowen looked back one more time in the direction his friend's had went.

"Be careful guys." He whispered then went to follow Riska as she began to walk towards the Imperial Palace.


	17. Chapter 17

Ryo ran after his four-legged friend until he suddenly stopped at the base entrance for Tokyo Tower. White Blaze stood on top of a taxi and stared forward he was growling low in his belly.

"What is it White Blaze? Why did you bring us here?" Ryo asked.

Sage slowed to a walk as he caught up with Ryo, his eyes stayed trained on the towers metal base.

"Ryo?" Sage said slowly as he pointed at what White Blaze was looking at.

"What?" Ryo asked then turned to look as well.

He froze as he spotted what they were looking at.

Mia stood at the foot of the tower; she was dressed in a black fighting suit and looked to be in one piece.

"Mia." Sage said softly before jogging up to his girlfriend.

"Sage, wait. Something is wrong." Ryo called and tried to reach out for his friend.

"Mia." Sage smile as he tried to reach out for her hand, but Mia didn't take it. She didn't even acknowledge that Sage was standing right in front of her.

Then without warning she turned from Sage and began to walk away.

"Mia?" Sage asked confused, he began to walk after her calling her name but she seemed to be in a trance.

"Sage, stop." Ryo chased after his friend and when he caught up he tried to step in Sage's way to make him stop walking.

"Ryo, get out of the way. Something is wrong with Mia." Sage said frustrated and pushed Ryo out of the way.

"Clearly there is something wrong, but I don't think it's going to be smart to follow her." Ryo told Sage as he continued to try to stop his friend.

"And why's that?" Sage asked watching Mia as she mindlessly continued on a pre-set course.

"Because you need to think who she was captured by and who is controlling her now." Ryo said as he grabbed Sage's shoulder; however he found that his friend had already stopped.

"You're right." Sage suddenly dropped his voice to a whisper, "I am an idiot."

"I wouldn't take it that far." Ryo replied but then froze when he looked up to see where Mia had gone to.

White Blaze's fur suddenly stood on end as the tiger began to growl deep in his chest as his eyes pierced the figure he stared at.

"Hello boys. I see you've found your friend." Lady Yuki drawled. She smiled as Mia walked to stand at her side staring blankly ahead. As Mia turned to face the two Ronins they noticed for the first time that her eyes had a soft red glow to them.

"What did you do to her?" Sage demanded, he resisted his need to immediately attack Yuki, he knew they needed a plan first.

"Nothing that you haven't come up against before." Yuki teased; she gave them a smile that reflected the laughter in her eyes. "I thought it would be fitting that the girl should meet her end like her beloved grandfather. You remember, right Wildfire? Killing the very person you were supposed to protect."

Ryo ground his teeth together, while Sage looked at his friend. He had known that Mia's grandfather had died as a result of the Nether Realm possessing him but Mia never spoke about how Ryo was involved with it directly.

"I had no choice. He was going to kill all of us, Mia, Yulie, White Blaze, me, there was no other way to get the spirit to leave his body." Ryo tried to explain.

Sage felt a tug in his stomach as he took a deep breath to hold in his sudden anger towards his friend.

"No choice or you didn't think your actions through, Wildfire?" Yuki questioned.

"There had to have been another way." Sage whispered.

"There wasn't." Ryo replied, his eyes were wide and openly begged his friend to forgive him.

"You could have saved him if you had just stopped to think, Ryo." Sage insisted on continuing, "you're almost as bad at Kento sometimes, just running into battle without thinking." Sage felt his anger begin to bubble over his protected layers of emotion; it was as if he couldn't stop it.

"Sage, please." Ryo begged Sage softly he put his hands up trying to calm his friend.

"No! You killed Mia's grandfather!" Sage yelled.

Yuki laughed from where she continued to stand next to Mia.

"Sage, you're losing control of yourself…" Ryo's eyes suddenly widened as he looked at Yuki, "just like Kento in the mansion. Yuki… you…"

"It is a cheap parlor trick to rile people's anger, and I enjoy it." Lady Yuki replied as she played with a curl of hair on Mia's shoulder. "And I don't even have to be in the same room."

Sage blinked as he slowly realized that he was ready to punch his own friend and brother in arms. He turned to Yuki and scowled, she simply widened her smile in return.

"Now that I have your blood pumping Halo, perhaps it is time that you and your girlfriend reunite. Mia." Yuki became serious as her voice took a commanding tone. Mia straightened her posture beside the Gatekeeper.

"Mia." Sage called softly hoping that he could wake her up.

"It's a shame; she is rather beautiful for a mortal. You should have heard her when we first brought her here. She insisted that the Ronins were going to save her. Foolish child, she didn't even notice the spirit as it came up behind her and slowly entered her body. At least, not until it was too late she screamed at first but then gave in and allowed the Nether spirit to take over. Now she's obedient, like she should be."

Sage wanted to jump Yuki right then and there. First she almost kills him and now she was controlled Mia, he was going to make her pay once he had his hands on her.

Yuki handed something to Mia, which the boys saw was a small knife. "Attack your enemy." Yuki whispered into Mia's ear.

The red in Mia's eyes flared up as she attacked, heading straight for Sage.

Sage was frozen; he couldn't get his feet to move out of the way of the incoming knife. All he saw was the woman he cared for coming straight at him. Distantly he heard Yuki laughing with glee. It wasn't until he heard someone yell did Sage suddenly come back into focus.

His could hear his heart beating in his ears as he saw that Ryo had jumped in front of him to block Mia's attack. Ryo grunted as he fell to one knee his hand held the handle of the knife that was now lodged in the space between his shoulder and collarbone. Somehow the small weapon was able to cut through Ryo's armor as if it were butter.

"Ryo!" Sage cried out.

"I'm fine." Ryo insisted as he pulled the knife out and throw it to the ground. The entire blade was soaked in Ryo's blood.

Mia let out a battle cry that pierced Sage's ear as she jumped at Sage with her nails out like a cat.

White Blaze tried to get in her way but Yuki flew out of nowhere swinging her staff at the tiger. White Blaze cried out as he fell down onto the street.

"White Blaze!" Ryo cried out as he got up to go after Yuki.

Sage jumped back as Mia swung at him with her nails.

"Mia, please." Sage begged as he dodged each of Mia's advances, "it's me, Sage."

There was no response from his girlfriend; her red glow in her eyes only seemed to intensify to the point that Sage knew he would have nightmares of it in the future.

Sage jumped back as Mia suddenly found her knife once again and tried to attack him with it while it was still stained with Ryo's blood.

Meanwhile, Yuki hissed at Ryo as he swung his katanas at her. Their attacks went back and forth in a continuous volley; they seemed to almost be at the same level of power.

Suddenly, Yuki jumped and kicking Ryo in the spot that Mia had stabbed causing him to yell out in pain. As Ryo gripped at his wound in pain Yuki took advantage of his reaction and swung her staff up before calling upon her power, "Worm Hole Blast!"

A shockwave of power hit Ryo hard sending him crashing through a window of a nearby building before disappearing into a wormhole and suddenly reappearing through another portal allowing Yuki to elbow him in the gut. Ryo crumbled to the ground without a sound as he blacked out.

Yuki jumped casually onto a nearby car and watched as Mia continued to attack Sage while he did nothing in retaliation.

"How long can you keep this up Halo before you grow tired? Because she will not feel any fatigue, not while she is possessed. Will you end her suffering Halo, like how Wildfire ended her grandfather's? You don't seem to have any other choice." Yuki laughed then jumped to the top of the building as White Blaze suddenly tried to attack her again but missed.

Sage could hear Yuki's laughter as she began to head for the Imperial Palace in an escape attempt.

Ryo blinked as he woke up again with a groan. Carefully he stood up as he held his side, he was pretty sure he had a broken rib or two along with the stinging he felt where Mia had stabbed him.

"She's getting away." Ryo cried out as he watched Yuki leave, he then looked down at Mia and Sage.

Sage blocked one of Mia's attacks and managed to grab her wrist before he twisted it behind her back. With his other hand he held her shoulder from behind. Mia began to thrash as she tried to break from his grip, she snarled which echoed the spirits voice that possessed her.

"Go get Yuki." Sage called as he held onto Mia. He swung his leg to knock Mia down so that she was on her stomach. He placed a knee in the middle of her back to keep her from getting up. The snarls and hisses coming from her increased they sounded more like an animal than human.

"Sage…" Ryo said as he looked at his friend with sympathy, "I can help you; we can free Mia of the Nether Realm's hold."

Sage shook his head as he held Mia down firmly, he hoped desperately that he wasn't hurting her too much.

"No, go after Yuki. I will take care of Mia." Sage insisted his blue eyes glistened as he did. Realization of the situation was sinking in; he couldn't come up with anymore alternatives to free Mia.

Ryo looked down at his friend in silence before asking, "How?"

Sage's expression turned grim before it returned to being determined.

"Sage, no!" Ryo cried out.

"GO you idiot! Get Yuki before she makes it back to Zetsumei." Sage told his friend.

Ryo wanted to refuse but he knew that he had to chase the Gatekeeper before she got back to her master. With a quick nod he whistled for White Blaze. His tiger obediently came to his side for Ryo to climb onto his back then they both began to chase after Lady Yuki.

Sage looked at Mia; her face was turning red from effort of trying to push him off of her.

"Mia." Sage whispered, he suddenly jumped back as Mia freed one of her hands and swiped at him.

Sage sucked in a breath as he covered his cheek with his hand. Mia had managed to scratch his skin with her nails leaving behind four long deep scratches.

He jumped back onto a semi-truck as Mia got up to attack him once more.

"I'm sorry Mia. I'm so sorry. I love you." He said to her as he raised his sword over his head tears threatened to pour over the edge of his eyes.

"Ronin you will die!" The voice that came out of Mia's mouth was not her own, it was laced with the evil that possessed her.

"No, spirit, you will." Sage replied before taking a deep breath, "Thunder Bolt Cut!"

Light engulfed three city blocks surrounding both Sage and Mia. As it overcame them a cry ripped from Mia's throat that was combined with both Mia's and the spirit's voice.

* * *

Rowen and Riska froze where they were walking as they looked towards the light coming from the other side of the city.

"That's Sage's power." Rowen stated with panic rising in his voice.

"What do you think is going on over there?" Riska asked her eyes were wide with fear.

"I don't know, I just hope we're the ones winning." Rowen whispered, he silently took Riska's hand she squeezed it in return.


	18. Chapter 18

Kento wiped his arm across his face to get some of the sweat off. He looked up at the sky above; every inch was covered in the swirling black clouds which came off the epicenter above the Imperial Palace.

With a glare Kento raised his hand to give the sky a hand signal of how he felt.

He and Cye had fought Matlal together over the roof tops of Tokyo until Matlal got lucky and hit him with one of his Nightshade Snares. It sent Kento toppling over the side of a bank building to the streets below.

Cye had made a move to go after Kento but then Matlal interfered and kept Cye preoccupied.

When Kento came back to he found himself lying on his back on top of a car that had been crushed by his impact. It wouldn't be the first time that Kento thanked the stars for his armor keeping him safe and alive.

However, he lost sight and sound of Cye and Matlal leaving him alone somewhere near the construction zone where the new Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art was almost done being built. Also when he woke back up he could also see a large column of light to the south west that beat with the power from Sage's armor of Halo near Tokyo Tower. Of course, that column was gone almost just as fast as it appeared leaving Kento not only confused, but also frustrated because he felt like he was supposed to be supporting one of brothers in arms somewhere.

With a deep breath Kento tried to refocus and center himself. He knew that he had to get to the palace despite wishing he could be the one fighting Matlal in order to get even for Yulie.

"Poor little dude, we'll save him… I swear we will." Kento whispered as he bowed his head.

"Saying a prayer Ronins, before you meet your doom?" A voice broke Kento from his thoughts, he recognized that voice.

"Enkidu." Kento growled as he slowly looked up at the warlord in the gray armor, the man stood four-hundred feet away from Kento in the middle of the street. He held his battle axe in his left hand and rested it over his shoulder.

"It is best you finish that prayer, Hardrock, because when I am finished with you, you will have either joined the afterlife with your little friend or have become my slave." Enkidu smirked as he spoke to Kento.

Kento bared his teeth he felt his blood boiling, but he held back the urge to attack. Kento knew he had to keep his head on straight; he refused to rush into another battle.

"There's no way you are going to defeat me or the rest of the Ronins and Yulie will live." Kento demanded, he tried to keep his voice steady but he could still hear the crack of worry beneath it ringing in his ears.

Enkidu's grin widened, he could hear Kento's waiver as well.

"You don't sound so sure, Hardrock. I believe that you know that the boy will die and it will be your fault. You Ronins should've kept him close." Enkidu cackled with laughter. "Perhaps I will go relieve his pain instead of making him suffer. Would you like to watch as his blood splatters on my axe, Hardrock?"

Kento's grip on his tetsubo tightened, "I have another plan." He said calmly.

"Oh yes? And what is that Ronin rat?" Enkidu inquired without much care.

"I end you instead." Kento replied as he lifted his tetsubo up as he raised his left hand, "Iron Rock Crusher!" He called out. As he swung his tetsubo into the ground the street tore apart and a wave of power rushed at Enkidu.

* * *

Ryo flipped into the air and out of the way of one of Yuki's attacks. He ducked behind a city bus and panted as he tried to catch his breath.

He had managed to catch up with Yuki just outside the Imperial Palace walls. Guards, made up of military members under mind-control, had at first tried to block Yuki which was successful. Ryo had no intention of hurting anyone who was innocent and she was using that against him. She had mocked Ryo and was going to leave when he spoke up calling her a frightened little girl that couldn't stand up for herself. It was low, he knew that, but he couldn't allow her get back to Zetsumei. Since then Yuki had been relentless with attacks, one came after the other and only allowed Ryo to block them.

"Come out, come out wherever you are little Ronin. We're not done yet." Yuki said in a sing song voice.

With a deep breath Ryo twisted his swords around in his hand then walked out from behind the bus.

"There you are, silly Wildfire." Yuki said before another blast from her staff came at Ryo.

Ryo crossed his swords so that he could block her attack again, but as he felt it lighten up he quickly moved in for his own attack. Before Yuki could send out another blast Ryo connected the hilts of his swords and spun the blades before jumping up into the air and calling out his battle cry.

"Flare Up Now!" Ryo felt his armor rise in temperature and his swords become engulfed in the flames of his power. With a swipe into the air, towards Yuki, he watched as the flames chased her.

Yuki yelled and tried to block Ryo's blast, but instead she found herself hit with the blast and blown into the same bus Ryo was hiding behind only a moment before.

Ryo landed and breathed quickly as he regained his balance. He smiled knowing that he finally got a hit. However, the smiled disappeared as the flames did.

Yuki still stood with her staff in front of her in a defensive stance there were marks on her face where Ryo could see his attack hit her. However, a warlord in black armor stood in front of her, he had taken most of the hit head on. The last of the flames seemed to seep into his armor as if they were feeding it.

"Morpheus." Ryo breathed taking a step back and holding his swords up.

Morpheus gave Ryo a look that didn't betray any thoughts; it was void of an expression at all.

"Master wishes for your presence. Go to him." He ordered Yuki softly.

Yuki glared at Morpheus; Ryo could feel the power struggle between them. He realized that they were both generals of Zetsumei's army at the same level of power.

"He singed my hair; I wish to make him pay." Yuki told Morpheus with anger.

Morpheus's black eyes sparked with his own annoyance.

"Go Gatekeeper, we have guests in the palace and Master wishes you be the welcoming crew." Morpheus told Yuki sternly.

Yuki's eyes suddenly lit up with recognition of what Morpheus was telling her. She suddenly grinned and looked at Ryo.

"The best has yet to come, Ryo. Wait until you see the true power of my Master. Ta-ta." She gave Ryo a small wave them jumped up and over the Palace wall disappearing into the darkness behind it.

Ryo cursed, so much for stopping Yuki from getting back to Zetsumei. He hoped Sage would forgive him.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he blocked a surprise attack from Morpheus.

"What is it that you dream of, Ronin?" Morpheus asked as he pushed his Morningstar against Ryo's katanas.

"What?" Ryo questioned through gritted teeth, Morpheus was very physically strong.

"Do you dream of this world filled with peace, where there are no longer starving people, people suffering from disease, and where the poor are rich? Or do you dream of finally being able to lay down your armor and live out the rest of your days with your beloved tiger? In a cabin near the mountains you grew up, and where no one can find you nor bother you." Morpheus looked into Ryo's blue eyes as he seemed to read into Ryo's deep wishes that he kept at bay. "Do I see that you don't even want your brothers around you, or that you wish they would understand and come with you? You had seen much bloodshed, Ronin, even caused some yourself. Does that guilt eat at you all the time?"

Ryo let out a growl and pushed Morpheus back forcing the warlord to retreat a few feet.

White Blaze let out a roar and jumped in front of Ryo as protection.

Morpheus looked at the tiger with hungry eyes; Ryo could already tell that he meant to attack White Blaze next.

"Blaze." Ryo said softly to the tiger.

White Blaze let out a rumbling growl as he continued to stare Morpheus down.

"White Blaze, I need you to leave here." Ryo told his best friend, "I don't want you to get hurt; I know you are meant to protect me. But, I need you to go protect Yulie instead. I have a feeling he needs it more than me right now."

White Blaze let out a whine to let Ryo know he didn't agree to the plan.

"Please White Blaze, I can't stand to watch you get hurt again. Please, go watch over Yulie." Ryo begged the tiger softly hoping Morpheus didn't hear him.

Finally with a roar that seemed to make Morpheus take a step back with surprise White Blaze gave Ryo one more worried looked in his brown eyes before he ran off into the city.

"So you chased your guardian away, Wildfire. That was a foolish choice." Morpheus mocked.

"it was just so that we can have a fair fight, Morpheus. I wouldn't want to defeat you so easily, it would be embarrassing for you." Ryo replied in the same mocking tone.

Morpheus glared at Ryo as he raised his Morningstar.

"So, let's fight then Ronin. And we will see then who will defeat whom. I can promise know that my power will eat you from the inside out, and you will feel your body crumble apart before you die." Morpheus told Ryo.

Morpheus raised his morning star above his head.

Ryo was surprised as he felt the shadows around him shift and move towards Morpheus and his weapon. It was like the warlord was using negative energy around him to feed his power.

When Morpheus' morning star began to pulsate with the energy he gathered he smiled as Ryo watched in awe.

"Night Crawler!" Morpheus called out, Ryo jumped back as he watch what looked like tentacles come out of Morpheus' weapon and come straight at him.


	19. Chapter 19

Rowen and Riska stood in silence next to the wall that held the Imperial Palace on the other side. They had made their way to the North West end of the palace wall where they knew there were fewer guards since there wasn't a gate there.

"That's a pretty tall wall." Rowen commented, when Riska gave him a raised eyebrow he smiled at her, "just trying to state the obvious to break the silence."

Riska nodded then looked back up at the wall which made Rowen sigh. It stood at least eighty feet high, Riska wasn't sure if that was the true height of the wall or an illusion that Zetsumei had created.

"Want to give me a boost?" Riska asked Rowen finally.

"Sure." Rowen said, he took a step back from Riska and then got into a position to hoist Riska up.

Without hesitation Riska ran towards Rowen jump so that her foot landed into his hand hold and then used the momentum from him lifting up so that she could jump to the top of the wall.

She let out a grunt as she pulled herself up to the top and then straddled the wall.

"Ok, now you jump up here." Riska told Rowen.

Rowen let out a laugh, "I can jump high in my armor, but not that high. I won't make it."

"I will help you, I promise." Riska told Rowen softly.

Rowen paused and looked at Riska; he could see she was confident that he'd get up there.

"Quick, before the sentry comes back around." She told him impatiently.

Rowen shook his head as he back up from the wall about twenty paces before he ran towards it again. He used a nearby tree to jump against for momentum before jumping up into the air. He felt like he was floating and could guess that was his armor trying to help him out.

However, just as he was closing into the top he felt the momentum of going up fade and knew was going to fall back down, which is until he felt Riska's grip around his wrist.

"Got you." Riska said with a winning smile.

Rowen smiled up at her and grabbed her other hand. He saw her tighten her hold on the wall with her legs as she lifted him up so that he could grab the edge then pull himself up to the top.

As he positioned himself into a comfortable spot on the top of the wall he and Riska watched as the sentry that was taking rounds in the area came by where they were only a moment before.

"It surprises me that they don't hear us." Rowen commented looking down at the military soldier under Zetsumei's control.

"Their orders are to watch the wall on ground level. There's no need for them to look up here. Only the Nether Spirits will see us up here." Riska replied.

"And where are they?" Rowen asked looking up to the sky and seeing nothing but the swirling black clouds above.

"I'm not sure." Riska replied.

"Should we be worried?" Rowen asked.

Riska gave a shrug which made Rowen shake his head.

Rowen instead looked over the other side of the wall into the palace grounds. Everything seemed to be blanketed in a dense dark fog. He felt a something pull on him like an unseen force.

"You feel it too?" Riska asked looking at Rowen thoughtfully.

"What is that?" Rowen asked continuing to look down into the fog.

"The palace grounds are stuck between the mortal realm and the nether realm. The force you feel is the pressure between the two battling for control. Anything within this barrier is being overlapped from one world into the other." Riska explained.

"It feels like it wants to pull me in." Rowen told Riska. He watched her nod from the corner of his eye.

"It is. We don't have to fight against it though; it will guide us to the ground on the other side. Just be prepared to see a sort of mix between worlds once we get down there."

"Will one world win over the other?" Rowen asked looking at Riska.

"That depends on whether or not we win. Right now we are currently the largest source of energy holding a footing for the mortal realm, if we lose then our worlds will blend together and the mortal realm will be sucked into the nether realm."

Rowen watched Riska; he could almost see a pull on her body from the two forces trying to draw her in. As he looked at her he couldn't help but feel his stomach flip with dread of what was to come. Without thinking he leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

Riska's widened in surprise as her cheeks burst with color, she returned the kiss before they both released.

"What was that for?" Riska asked.

"I'm not sure, just felt like I needed to kiss you." Rowen replied.

Riska let out a soft laugh, "I think I can deal with that."

It was Rowen's turn to have his cheeks to turn red.

"C'mon. We should get going." Riska told Rowen. He nodded and became serious once more.

They both swung their leg that was hanging on the outside of the wall then with a grunt they both jump down into the fog.

Landing gracefully with their knees bent to take the impact of the ground Rowen looked up from where they jumped from. From the inside the wall looked even taller than it did on the outside. He suddenly snapped back into focus a moment later when Riska fell to her knees and gripped at her chest as she let out panting breathes.

"Are you alright?" Rowen asked panicked, he kneeled next to Riska to try to look at her face. However, Riska just waved him off.

"I'm fine; the air just hit me pretty hard is all." Riska told him as she used his hand to stand up she seemed to have regained her composure.

Rowen gave her one more worried look before taking in his surroundings. They were in one of the palace gardens, but it looked strange.

The ponds were reflecting the sky from the nether realm, while the trees looked like they were being twisted from an unseen force. Even the grass seemed mixed in with the sands from the nether realm.

"You weren't kidding when you said the worlds are trying to combine." Rowen observed.

"This way." Riska replied as she began to walk towards the edge of the palace in the distance.

Rowen followed Riska's lead.

"Couldn't Lady Yuki just force the two worlds to meld, she is the gatekeeper right?" Rowen asked as they walked.

"She doesn't have that power. She can only allow energy and beings pass between worlds. No two worlds are meant to blend together. You saw how it was during your battle of Talpa. I imagine he had his palace and his gates but everything else seemed to be mixed, was it not?"

"That's true. Do you think she was responsible for when Talpa came here?"

Riska shook her head, "no, Talpa was an ancient demon that was created before the channels between time and space became more balanced. He learned how to move between worlds on his own."

"And since Zetsumei didn't have that advantage he had to find someone to help him move as freely as well."

"Exactly." Riska replied she suddenly held back Rowen.

"What is it?" Rowen asked as he looked in the same direction that Riska looked. When he spotted what she saw he immediately took out his bow and arrow.

"Welcome Ronins, to Lord Zetsumei's palace." Lady Yuki said as she glided towards the two warriors.

"Lady Yuki, are you our welcoming party?" Riska asked as she slid out her razor fans.

"Not much of a party." Rowen scoffed.

Lady Yuki grinned, "My Master wishes for both of your attendance in his court. He would love to see his little sister again and her newest lover boy and have you both join him as he gains power and rules over this pathetic world."

"Over my dead body." Riska retorted.

"Now, now be a good Shōkōjo and come with me." Yuki ordered.

"We're not going anywhere with you." Rowen replied as he notched an arrow.

Yuki's eyes lit up with anger, "all of you Ronins are so annoyingly stubborn. What will it take for your compliance?" She demanded.

"We will never comply, and you will be defeated and banished from this world and all others." Riska told the woman.

Rowen slowly pulled back on his arrow ready to send out his attack.

"Alright, you give me no choice. I will have to simply kill Strata then drag you to Zetsumei by your hair Shōkōjo." Lady Yuki said in an eerily calm voice.

Rowen braced himself for her attack as he pulled his arrow all the way back. Riska crouched with her razor fans in hand as she took her own stance. They watched as Lady Yuki spun her staff then slammed it into the ground in front of her as she held onto it tightly.

"Worm Hole Bla…" Before she could finish her call to her power she was suddenly blasted back by a bright white light.

Both Riska and Rowen jumped back to get away from the blast as it came barreling through the trees. Rowen looked to see where it came from as the light cleared and was shocked to see Sage standing where a grouping of trees were only a moment ago.

His helmet was off and his blonde hair was a mess that revealed both of his bright crystal blue eyes that were full of rage and red from other emotions that Rowen could only guess at.

"Sage?" Rowen asked slowly as his friend walked towards where Lady Yuki had been blasted into a large boulder.

Sage didn't seem to notice him at first as all his attention was on Lady Yuki. The gatekeeper moaned as she slowly woke up from losing consciousness.

"Sage." Rowen said more urgently trying to get his friend's attention.

Sage looked at Rowen and saw his face soften.

"What happened?" Rowen asked almost afraid to hear the answer. "Is… Mia… is she…"

"Lady Yuki will pay for all of her actions, and I will be the one to teach her that lesson." Sage told Rowen, "head for the palace and get Zetsumei."

"Sage…" Rowen felt his stomach dropped as he assumed the worse for Mia.

"Go, Rowen, I'll take care of this." Sage told his friend in his more normal voice.

"Halo." Lady Yuki creaked as she slowly got up, "did you already kill of your girlfriend that was quick."

Rowen looked between Lady Yuki and Sage before nodding. He looked around for Riska but didn't see her anywhere.

"Riska?" Rowen called out as Sage walked past him towards Lady Yuki. He felt his nerves go on high alert. "Riska!"

"Over here." He heard her voice call from across the space that Sage's blast had gone through.

Rowen ran over and looked down a small hill and saw that there was a small old round hole in the ground by a cherry tree. He ran over and looked down, but he couldn't see anything in the darkness.

"Riska?" He called out.

"I'm here." he heard her voice echo down in the abyss.

"I'm coming down to get you." Rowen called back and began to look around for something to use as a rope.

"No, Rowen, stop." Riska called up. When Rowen looked back down the hole he saw that small light purple lights were beginning to appear slowly they lit up the hole which turned out to be a large room and the hole was in the center to provide air and light. He also realized that the small lights were kodama.

"How do I see them…" Rowen began to whisper; he wasn't supposed to see the kodama outside of the spirit world.

"Because of your virtue of Life, it allows you to open your mind a little bit more." Riska replied as she looked up at him. Her cheek looked bruised from the fall but was otherwise fine. She had slid off her helmet so that she could look up better. "Rowen, get into the palace from up there. Zetsumei won't expect us separating like this, we can surprise him."

"Do you even know where you are right now?" Rowen called down as he tried to take in the room she stood in. It didn't look very big and he could swear he saw old dried blood mixed with the straw on the cement blocks that made up the floor.

Riska took a big shaking breath, "This was my prison cell once, shortly after I betrayed Talpa and you are standing in the same spot that the Ancients came and rescued me."

Rowen's eyes widened and watched the kodama slowly dance around Riska like they were the dandelion seeds blowing in an unseen breeze.

"I was tortured down here, so yes, I am intimately aware of where I am. These passages lead into the palace." Riska explained. "I will break open the door and go this way, but you should go in the way we planned from the side. Slip into the windows and I will meet you in the hallway that leads to the main court."

"Riska…" Rowen could see the pain in Riska's eyes as memories of her past welled up in her mind.

"I'll be fine, now go. I'm sure Sage wouldn't want you to get in his way right now. He looked rather pissed." Riska teased lightly.

Rowen finally nodded, "be careful." He told Riska then got up and started to jog towards the palace just as Riska asked.

"You too." Riska whispered from inside the cell.

She looked around the room that was almost the place she allowed herself to die centuries before. The kodama sang softly in her ear keeping her mind focused on her goal, they never let her stray too far into her head.

With a deep breath she walked up to the cell door and with resolve she quickly kicked it down. The clatter from it crashing down echoed loud enough that she knew someone would be alerted her presence. This was fine with her; it would give Rowen time to sneak in from above.

"Alright, let's do this." She told herself and walked into the dark hall that led into palace and allowed the kodama's light to blink out behind her.


	20. Chapter 20

Yulie woke up from another fever induced nightmare; he felt his body was covered in a cold sweat while he simultaneously felt like he was burning alive from the inside out. His muscles were stiff as if they were all convulsing at once and his mouth was as dry as sandpaper. He couldn't concentrate on any one thing as he stared up at an exposed ceiling of what he guessed was a warehouse. If he listened for a moment over his racing heart he could almost hear the lapping of water outside.

The docks, he was at the docks, but where… Tokyo that must be it. A part of him remembered that he had seen his friends, the Ronin Warriors, and how they had taken him out of the chaos that was the building filled with dying people. Although, a part of him wished he was left there so that he wouldn't have to die alone. He knew his end was coming soon.

He grit his teeth and muffled his scream the best he could as another bolt of pain shot through his nervous system.

"Oh please, please, make it end." He coughed out in a cry. There were no tears though, he ran out of those, no, instead he coughed up more blood. He winced at the coppery aftertaste it left in his mouth.

He closed his eyes once more and thought of all those on the bus he had failed. All those people he had ridden with out of town depended on him to take them to safety. He thought that the mountains near Mia's mansion would be safe. He was wrong.

So many died on the bus alone and he froze. He couldn't fight against the warlord Matlal as he slaughtered most and infected the rest with disease, which included him. And he was stupid for mentioning he knew the Ronins, Matlal had become gleeful with the news and immediately made sure that his disease would run its course slowly. He wanted Yulie to suffer and he wanted the Ronins to see it.

Yulie tried to steady his breath, maybe if he relaxed and let go then it would all be over.

In the distance he thought he could hear White Blaze's roar. It was a sound that Yulie welcomed and wished was real, but it was probably just a dream as well.

However it became louder and more persistent until he suddenly heard it in the warehouse building, echoing off the walls.

With a groan Yulie rolled over then began to drag his body across the dirty metal floor until he was able to look out between the crates he was hidden behind. He saw that White Blaze really was there, and on his back facing down was Mia. She wasn't moving on White Blaze's back, her skin was pale. Yulie vaguely wondered if Matlal had gotten to her too.

"White Blaze." Yulie croaked out, "I'm glad you're here buddy... I didn't want to die alone."

The white tiger let out a roar that made Yulie shake down to his bones.

* * *

Across town Cye panted as he leaned against a tree in the palace garden. He had managed to lose Matlal at the wall when a large group of Nether spirits gathered to try to attack Cye at the same time. Matlal had grown furious and began to fight the spirits telling them that Cye was his to kill. Cye used the window of opportunity to jump over the wall and disappear in the cover of trees.

He hissed as he held his right wrist close to his body. Matlal had twisted it to the point that he was sure it was broken. Cye rested his forehead against the tree as he looked down at his wrist. It was twisted in an all too wrong direction.

Taking a few deep breaths Cye gripped his wrist then twisted it and popped it back in place. He heard a crack and could feel the bones crunch over one another before the wave of pain hit and caused Cye to slide down to the ground. He bit his lip to hold back his scream.

Panting he looked down again, blood was starting to drip out of the space between the top of his hand's armor and the bottom. However, his wrist was now facing the correct direction again. Slowly he bent it to test if it was usable, which caused him to bite his lip as pain seared up into his shoulder.

"Ok, so it hurts." He whispered. "A lot… but at least I can move it."

Cye took another moment before he stood up again. He grabbed his yari that was leaning against the tree beside him then looked around. The place looked pretty messed up. It was obvious that the Nether Realm was seeping through into his world trying to take it over. The evidence was everywhere, even in the water nearby as he took note of the blood red moon that he recognized as the Nether Realm's.

"Taking in the view Ronin?" Cye didn't move at first, but he knew that voice, it was Matlal once again. "Wait until my Master takes over this world completely, then you can enjoy the view much more then. Oh wait, I'm sorry, you'll be dead. Too bad, because it will be glorious."

"I'm not interested in your intended landscaping, Matlal. I only am interested in sending you back to where you came from." Cye stated.

"That is a fantasy that will never come true." Matlal snorted.

"Let's find out." Cye said and tossed his yari from his left to his right hand, he ignored the pain shooting through him as he gripped his weapon.

"Super Wave Smasher!"

"Nightshade Snare!"

The two warriors watched as their attacks went barreling towards each other. Cye jumped out of the way the last moment into the trees.

Cye grinned as he heard Matlal yell as his attack hit the warlord square on. However, instead of waiting to see how Matlal was after Cye kept running away through the trees. He had to try to find an open space so that he could see the warlord better through the fog.

Cye could faintly hear a battle in front of him as he saw that the trees were thinning out, signaling an opening. As he approached the open he slowed to a stop and saw that Ryo was busy fighting another warlord, Morpheus.

As Cye watched he heard a distant whistle coming from behind. He used his left hand to twist his yari around so that he could hopefully block whatever was coming. Turning around he was met by a shockwave of Matlal's Nightshade Snare.

"Oomph." Cye gasped as it blew him back into the opening. He grunted as he made impact with another body.

Vaguely he recognized Ryo's voice before he was lifting his yari up with both hands to block a blow from Morpheus' Morningstar. Cye let out a yell as he pushed against the weapon and felt as his armor let out a light blue shockwave of its own and pushed Morpheus back.

Cye used the opportunity to get off of Ryo and help his friend up.

"Good to run into you, my friend." Cye commented to Ryo who let out a laugh.

"I got to say the same to you." Ryo replied clapping his hand on Cye's shoulder. He looked down and the blood dripping from Cye's hand, "you doing alright?"

"I've been better." Cye admitted.

They watched as Morpheus slowly got back up from crashing into a nearby tree. A few yards to the north they heard then saw as Matlal came scrambling out of the underbrush.

"Looks like it's going to be two on two." Ryo stated as he readied his katanas.

"Let's try to make this a good fight then." Cye replied holding his yari in a defensive stance.

The two Ronins stood beside one another and faced their foes.

* * *

Kento looked over his shoulder at the palace wall that was just destroyed by an attack he had dodged from Enkidu. Zetsumei's warlords clearly had more power than Talpa's let alone what the Ronins had with their old armors. It was obvious from the burned lane earth that started at Enkidu's feet and headed deep into the gardens of the Imperial palace past the bit of wall the warlord had destroyed.

"My Master will not be happy I destroyed a part of his wall. No matter, we will simply have to rebuild it with your bones, Hardrock. That is if I leave any trace of you behind." Enkidu mocked.

Kento looked back at the warlord and smiled, "I dunno, I like what you did to the place, you gave it more character."

At Kento's feet fog began to pool around him as it poured out from its containment. He felt a shiver go up his spine that reminded him of the feeling that he got from going into the dimensional channel with Riska and the others.

Enkidu smiled, "do you feel that Ronin, that is the Nether Realm making its way into your world. Soon its shadow will take over completely and your world will be no more."

"As if I'd let you get away with that." Kento said getting back into an offensive stance; he prepared to attack the warlord again.

Enkidu laughed and suddenly jump up and over Kento so that he landed behind him.

"Let's see if you can back up your threats, Ronin."

Kento ducked just in time to avoid his head getting chopped off by Enkidu's battle axe.

"Whoa!" Kento exclaimed as he rolled away from Enkidu as he avoided another swing of the warlord's battle axe shortly after the first.

"What's wrong Hardrock? Am I starting to tire you out? I thought you were going to show me a real fight." Enkidu laughed as he mocked Kento.

Kento's cheeks burned from the rage that already burned in his stomach.

Enkidu took his opportunity and attacked Kento. The Ronin didn't have time to react as Enkidu tackled into him throwing him off balance. All he could do wrap one arm around the warlord's helmet like a football and grip his tetsubo with his other hand. He felt debris hit his back which the Hardrock armor protected him from any serious injury as he went.

Kento felt his tetsubo begin to slip from his grip and knew he had to make a choice. Let go of his weapon and try hand to hand combat or let go of Enkidu.

With a deep breath Kento released his hold on Enkidu and let out a breath as he hit the hard ground. For a moment he simply laid on the ground looking up at the swirling black clouds that peeked through the trees above. He panted to catch his breath as he tried to process everything that was going on.

A million thoughts went through his head, his friends, his family, fighting the Nether Realm, even flashes of the last time the Ronins had gone up against the Nether Realm. His family flashed through his mind, he hoped they were safe. He didn't want to find out that they were placed among the many that were dying from disease because of Matlal or had become Enkidu's slaves.

Kento heard footsteps somewhere above him as they crunched down on a broken branch. Listening carefully Kento knew it was Enkidu.

"Given up already Ronin?" Enkidu questioned.

Kento could feel the shadow of the warlord's battle axe as he raised it above his head.

"Not quite." Kento replied as he suddenly rolled over and jumped up. As he did so he spun his tetsubo above his head. "Iron Rock Crusher!"

"Shadow Slash!" Enkidu cried out as he swung his axe.

As their armors power came into contact they were both pushed back away from each other.

"I'll never give up, not while creeps like you threaten my world!" Kento yelled out, "Not while my family and friends can't live safely."

Enkidu let out a frustrated yell as he pushed against Kento's attack.

Kento didn't back down he had come to the final point of his tolerance of all this. Of always worrying that everyone he loved was never going to be safe, of the Nether Realm always trying to take over his world, of the warlords, and of fighting. He wanted to be a normal twenty-something where the only thing he had to worry about was where he wanted to travel and what to eat for dinner.

With one more push Kento called his armor of Hardrock to send out one more blast at Enkidu. The orange light poured from Kento as Enkidu yelled over the roar of Hardrock's power.

When Kento couldn't take anymore he simply let go and bent over panting to catch his breath. He could feel his legs shake from his muscles being exhausted. Slowly he looked up and saw what he had done. The ground was cracked open with debris from the trees and rocks covering the edges. The only thing he didn't see was Enkidu… anywhere… not even a hair. Kento wasn't sure if Enkidu had disappeared or Kento had truly defeated the warlord.

Kento stood straight back up and took a deep breath to try to settle his nerves.

"Alright. Now what?" Kento whispered to himself.

As if the universe heard his question he heard the sound of another battle nearby. It wasn't until he heard a familiar yell that he began to run towards the sounds.


	21. Chapter 21

Rowen landed on the wooden floors as lightly as he could to not alert the attention of the two Nether guards at the room's entrance. It looked like he was in one of the Palace's offices that housed artifacts that were being processed to be displayed.

Carefully he pulled out his bow and arrow to notch an arrow. Walking slowly and crouched he got closer to the guards before letting his arrow fly to the guard on the left while he twisted his bow around and swung it over the other guard's head and choked him until he fell to the ground limp.

With another notched arrow Rowen edged his way into the hallway only to find it empty. He didn't lower his guard though; he knew better when it came to the Nether Realm.

As he made his way through the silent halls of the Imperial Palace he couldn't help but wonder where his other brother in arms were and how they were faring, as well as, wondering if Riska was being successful on her own path into Zetsumei's headquarters.

* * *

Several floors under Rowen's feet Riska was walking past the prison cells that belonged to the Nether Realm. Most of the cells were empty, however, she would pass one occasionally that held a prisoner. None, though, held any being from the mortal realm. She felt sorry for those in each small room, but odds were they wouldn't welcome her breaking them free if she tried.

Quickening her steps she moved past them keeping her eyes forward so that she didn't linger too long in the damp dark space.

As she walked up the steps she could feel herself pass back into the mortal world, which left the same heavy sting in her chest as it did at the wall when her and Rowen had jumped into the Palace grounds. It was a residual effect from her time with Talpa, and made her uncomfortable, it reminded her of when she was under the old emperor's control.

At the top of the stairs she found herself looking at yet another long hall of dark wood with the only light being provided by candles attached to the walls. Riska took out her razor fans and slowly went forward.

"I know you are here." Riska called out calmly, "I know your stench anywhere."

She heard laughter echo in the hall, the memories that went with the laugh sent an involuntary shiver up her spine.

"Is that anyway to greet your brother, Shōkōjo? It has much too long since we had seen each other." Zetsumei stated as he appeared to walk out of a wall down the hall. He turned to face Riska the candles cast ugly shadows across his face and emphasized the scars over his left eye. "I was hoping for a warmer greeting from you."

Riska let out a snort, "what made you think I'd greet you warmly? Unless, of course, you meant this. Soul Riser!" Riska twisted her fans around and went out her armor's energy to strike Zetsumei.

The white-haired man simply raised a hand and seemed to brush it away. It made Riska freeze, she wasn't expecting that.

"You still underestimate me, Shōkōjo."

"Don't call me that." Riska hissed.

"Why? You liked the nickname when we were growing up together." Zetsumei said in an innocent voice.

"I can't say I was myself when I was growing up."

The emperor of the Nether Realm's smile grew, "and who are you exactly? Guardian to the Ronins? Ha! You haven't done a very good job with that. Your Ronins are on the Palace grounds right now fighting my warlords. They are wounded and tired, and will soon fall. Much like the ones before." Zetsumei stated without care. "And this time, you will not be able to save their armors for any successors. I'm providing you a service, Shōkōjo, when the Ronins are dead and their armors no longer exist you won't have to continue to protect anything."

"Then what? You take over the world only to destroy it and kill all those who live in the mortal realm?" She questioned.

"Only those who do not serve me willingly. I will spare a few as slaves as well; I can't do all the work."

"When have you ever done any work?" Riska spat.

Zetsumei's green eyes lit up, suddenly Riska found herself on her back with Zetsumei's hand around her throat. She couldn't fight against him, he had her pinned.

"I worked hard for my throne, sister; while you ran from power I welcomed it." Zetsumei hissed, Riska turned her head as his spit hit her cheek.

"You still spit when you speak." She grumbled then gasped as Zetsumei's hold tightened. "Mother would be disappointed in what her son had become." She managed to choke out.

With a growl Zetsumei lifted Riska by the throat. As he stood Riska could feel herself be lifted from the floor until only her toes grazed it.

"That woman was not my mother." Zetsumei told Riska, "My mother was father's first wife. Beautiful and stern, she died and then father decided to make one of his consorts his new wife. That's your mother, a whore."

Riska glared at Zetsumei, she knew he was lying. Yes, it was true that they had different mothers but her mother loved no one but her father and treated Zetsumei as her own son.

"Don't give me that look; it's the same look she wore when I killed her. And I'm not going to kill you." Zetsumei dropped Riska to the ground. "I have other plans for you."

Before she could catch her breath she suddenly felt her hair get tugged as Zetsumei grabbed a chunk of her hair and began to drag her behind him. She gripped at his hand and her hair trying to separate them.

"You were so much more powerful as Talpa's assassin. Do you remember that, sister? Do you remember how you killed all those people with ease?"

"What do you want from me?" Riska demanded as she continued to struggle against her brother's hold.

Zetsumei didn't answer at first; he seemed to be considering her question with care.

"I wish to see you break your vow that you made with the Ancient Clan. I want you to end the Ronins with your own hands."

"Never!" Riska yelled.

"You've done it before." Zetsumei pointed out.

Riska suddenly let go of Zetsumei and stopped struggling, she fell limp. With a satisfied grunt Zetsumei let go of Riska and looked down at her.

"What's wrong Shōkōjo; did I bring up bad memories?" He crooned.

Riska looked up at Zetsumei; he said tears threatening to come from her eyes.

"I didn't have a choice. He had to be stopped." Riska told Zetsumei in a voice as strong as she could muster.

"You didn't, did you? Hariel had gone out of control; the Inferno armor had eaten his soul alive. He killed so many; the Ronins couldn't even stop him he even managed to kill some of them before you decided to put a stop to it." Zetsumei pouted then let out a laugh, "it was glorious! Lady Yuki allowed me to watch as you had to kill the very person you fell in love with."

Riska didn't respond she glared at the emperor as hatred flared in her heart. She knew if she spoke she would regret her words. She wanted to get up and attack him but felt as if her legs were made of lead and wouldn't allow her to rise. Never in all her years did she not try to fight back.

Zetsumei's laughter only grew louder as he looked down at his sister.

Zetsumei's laughter cut out when a Nether Realm soldier came running into the hallway. The armored demon stopped a few feet from Zetsumei, ignoring Riska who still sat on the ground at his feet.

"Master, we have found Strata at the west end of the palace. We have soldiers fighting him now." The soldier reported.

"Very good, very good indeed. Make sure you capture him and bring him to the throne room. It's time that I get to meet the Ronin in person. Come Riska." Zetsumei reached down and grabbed Riska by the hair again, ignoring her cry of pain as he dragged her behind him.

* * *

Rowen used his bow to dodge the Nether soldier's spear as he continued to beat down any that came near him. Their numbers were overwhelming, and they were coming out of nowhere. He didn't know how much longer he could hold them off.

In the distance he thought he could hear heavy footsteps, against his will he looked up and saw a Nether soldier in red armor coming towards him with a large club dragging behind him.

"Great." Rowen muttered as he shot a bow at another soldier nearby.

He flipped kicking another two in the face as he tried to retreat to get away from the behemoth of a Nether Soldier.

However, he only found more soldiers waiting for him around the corner. He looked around but saw no escape. Turning around again he suddenly faced the large Nether soldier who lifted his club then swung down at Rowen.

Quickly Rowen notched an arrow and braced himself, "Arrow Shock Wave!" He cried out as he released the arrow. He felt the power from his armor pulse around him then into the arrow. It shot down the hall and into the crowded grouping of Nether Soldiers and ended by hitting the oversized Nether soldier in the chest.

The giant fell back with a loud bang and Rowen saw that in addition to beating the giant with one blow he also managed to wipe out over half the soldiers as well.

"Whoa." He muttered, "This armor really is more powerful."

Before he could ponder any longer on his new armor he suddenly found himself getting lassoed by the other soldiers that were left behind. Soon he found himself tied up and falling to the ground. His bow slid across the floor until it hit the foot of a Nether soldier.

The tin heads around him chuckled as one lift him up to carry him away. Rowen ground his teeth as he tried to get loose. As he struggled he heard something hit the roof above him, not knowing about the battles his friends were in outside.

They carried him through the halls until they dropped him onto the floor in front of two large doors. Rowen would always remember the doors that served as the entrance to the Nether realm's throne room. They untied him limbs then grabbed him back the arms and led him inside.

The soldiers kept his head down until they approached the pedestal where the throne to the Nether Realm sat. Then one kicked the back of his knees, forcing Rowen to his knees. It was then that he was finally able to lift his head. However, his glare quickly turned into wide eyed surprise as cold fear filled his veins.

Rowen looked at the face of the newest emperor of the Nether Realm, Zetsumei. The man was tall and his white hair was the only thing that showed his age. He couldn't help but notice the four long scars that went over his left eye. However, it was what Zetsumei had sitting at his feet that caught his attention longest.

Riska and Rowen locked eyes; Rowen had never seen the bearer of the Souls armor look as scared as she did in that moment.

"This isn't good." Rowen whispered.

"Hello, Strata. Welcome to my court." Zetsumei said with a bright smile, he then reached down and grabbed Riska by the hair.

Rowen jerked against the hold the Nether soldiers had on his wrists and arms, but it proved to be futile.

Zetsumei stood on the top of the stairs that led to his throne he wore a smile that was wide and full of glee. He gripped Riska's hair tightly making her wince from the pain.

"Let her go, Zetsumei. You want me, not her." Rowen yelled at the Nether Realm emperor.

"Oh, this is cute." Zetsumei said as he tugged on Riska's hair so that she got closer to him, "who would've thought that my little sister would end up falling for a Ronin… again. I thought you learned your lesson the first time."

Rowen glared at Zetsumei who only smiled more.

"You are right about one thing Ronin; I do want you more than her. However," he jerked Riska who let out a gasp, "what I want more is to see my sister destroy what she loves the most."

"What do you mean by that?" Rowen demanded.

"Did Riska tell you about how she was once an assassin for Talpa? She was the greatest soldier he had… next to me of course. But, did she also tell you how she willingly did it all after I killed her?"

"Yea, she told us something along those lines." Rowen replied, he grunted as a Nether soldier kneed him in the back causing him to fall forward and forcing his arms back where the soldiers held him. He felt his right shoulder pop out of place from the force; he hid his face to hide his expression of pain.

"I wasn't done." Hissed Zetsumei, he smacked away Riska's hand which was reaching up to try to stop her brother.

Riska looked at Rowen with worry, tears filled her eyes from the pain of her hair feeling like it was about to get ripped from her scalp.

"Talpa was a powerful leader for the Nether Realm; he put Riska under his control as he brought her back to life with the help of Nether spirits. I, however, don't depend on those creatures as much as my master did. Instead, I learned a trick or two from a necromancer. Shall I show you, Strata?" Zetsumei raised his free left hand as a black orb formed in his hand, from where Rowen was held he could hear whispers coming from the orb. Zetsumei smiled as he brought the orb close to Riska's chest.

Rowen ground his teeth then let out a cry as he tried to break free from the Nether soldiers. He felt their grip jerk and he took his opportunity to get out of their grip. He felt as his already dislocated soldier sent a shooting pain down to his hand, but he ignored it as he tried to jump at Zetsumei.

Instead, Rowen suddenly got knocked down as someone sat on his back while laughing.

It was Lady Yuki, her hair was a mess from the battle she just came from, and she dug her shuriken knife between his shoulder blades.

"Watch." She hissed gleefully next to Rowen's ear then held his face up to look Riska in the eyes.

Riska looked scared and mouthed how sorry she was to him. Then without any more interruptions or hesitation Zetsumei pushed the black orb into Riska's chest and simultaneously released his sister.

Riska's silence was broke with a scream as she fell. Rowen watched in horror as Riska convulsed on the stairs at Zetsumei's feet. She scratched at her chest trying to rip the orb out of her body.

"Riska!" Rowen yelled trying to get Lady Yuki off of him.

Riska suddenly went still, Rowen couldn't see if she was even still breathing. Suddenly Riska arched her back and let out a scream as her green eyes turned black like ink spreading onto paper.

Then, silence.

Riska's body fell slack on the stairs, her eyes were closed.

Zetsumei never stopped grinning, he seemed to enjoy every minute of watching his sister be in excruciating pain.

"Riska rise." Zetsumei ordered finally.

Rowen watched as Riska slowly sat up then stood up to stand beside her brother. Her eyes were solid black not even the whites could be seen. Rowen felt his chest ache as if someone put ice around his heart and squeezed it.

"Now bow to me." Zetsumei told Riska. Rowen snarled as she did as Zetsumei ordered.

"Good, good. Now, transform into your armor." Zetsumei watched as white light surrounded Riska and when it disappeared she now wore her armor. He laughed gleefully like a child watching his favorite show, "this is so wonderful!"

"Release her!" Rowen yelled which was then silenced when Lady Yuki pushed his head down knocking his forehead on the floor.

"Careful Yuki!" Zetsumei hissed making her back off.

"I am sorry, my lord." She whispered.

Zetsumei nodded then turned his attention to Rowen.

"Now, as for you. I am going to have Lady Yuki release you, and when she does you are to run back to your friends and prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Rowen asked.

"To die of course. To die by the hands of the very person who was sent to save you." Zetsumei smiled. "Yuki." He nodded at Yuki who then released Rowen.

Rowen hesitated to get up at first but when he did he approached Riska instead of leaving. Zetsumei didn't say a word as he watched Rowen approach the girl.

"Riska, Riska, please, I know you're in there." Rowen said softly, he reached his hand out to touch her. However, Riska didn't move from Zetsumei's side. "Riska?"

"Shōkōjo, kill." Zetsumei ordered.

Rowen jumped back in time as Riska suddenly took a swipe at him with her dagger.

"I warned you boy, but now she'll have to take care of you first before going after your other buddies." Zetsumei said as Riska continued to attack Rowen and Rowen dodged each move.


	22. Chapter 22

Kento looked up at the Palace which had suddenly grown larger in the last few minutes as if the power of the Nether Realm had suddenly increased. The top of the palace now dipped into the clouds above which added to its intimidation.

When Kento had ran towards the battle he had heard he found Sage fighting Lady Yuki. They were locked in a draw which had caused Sage to yell out in frustration. He had never seen his friend look so bent on revenge. Kento tried to help Sage fight Lady Yuki but Sage refused as he continued to fight the gatekeeper. Of course, being hard headed, that didn't stop Kento from still joining in.

As they had gained the upper hand and had Lady Yuki backing down she suddenly turned and ran into a wormhole. Sage had screamed out as he released his anger and fell to his knees, as he did he slammed his sword into the ground. Since then he had been silent as he stared off into the distance.

"Sage…" Kento whispered looking at his friend, "we have to keep moving. We need to find everyone else."

No word or movement came from Halo.

"Sage." Kento said a little more loudly, when his friend still didn't answer and continued to stare Kento groaned and suddenly grabbed Sage by the shoulders and shook him.

"You have to wake up man." Kento said, "The palace just grew three sizes larger, the Nether Realm is seeping into our world as we speak, and I have no idea where the others are! This isn't the time to give up and mope."

Sage looked down, "I let revenge take over, Kento. All I felt was rage for what she did to me and to Mia and let it take over. I wanted to kill her; I wanted to see her life leave her eyes as I killed her."

"You think that would make things better? Believe me dude, it wouldn't. All you would be left with is regret. We're Ronins, not Warlords. We fight to protect all of humanity, not to get revenge."

It took a moment for Sage to respond, but he blinked away the daze and looked at his friend. He then gave Kento a smile smirk and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Since when do you become the guru of the group?" He asked.

Kento laughed, "Only when the thoughtful one isn't doing his job." His smile faded as he let Sage go and looked up at the palace once more. "Something is wrong, it's like the Nether Realm just took a steroid pill."

"I feel it too." Sage said as he also looked up. "Something is coming, and it's big." With one swift movement he pulled his sword out of the ground and gripped the hilt. "Let's find the others."

Kento smiled, "there's the Sage of Halo I know."

The two Ronins turned and began to jog into the garden grounds in search of their brothers in arms.

* * *

Cye was getting tired, and Matlal seemed to have an infinite amount of energy left. The warlord pushed Cye back more and more until he found himself standing in the stream that ran through the Palace's gardens.

"Giving up Ronin?" Matlal asked with a laugh, "You were doing so well." He lifted his double-sided spear and aimed for the boy in front of him. "Nightshade snare!"

Cye knew he didn't have the energy to block this one or even dodge it. He lifted his yari in front of him and closed his eyes hoping that he would come out the other end at least still breathing.

After a moment Cye realized that he still hadn't been hit by Matlal's attack. He briefly wondered if he died and just didn't feel anything. Slowly he opened his eye then took a step back when he saw a wall of water had protected him. He could vaguely make out the shape of the warlord on the other side; he looked just as perplexed as Cye guessed he looked.

Looking down Cye saw that his armor was glowing; he could feel his virtue of trust glowing on his forehead. He let out a small laugh; his armor really did have more power than he estimated.

"Are you going to hide behind water all day, Torrent? It won't protect you forever!" Matlal called out.

The warlord took a step back as the water suddenly parted in half to reveal the Ronin on the other side.

"What trickery is this?" Matlal demanded.

"No trickery, warlord, this is the power of the Ronin armors." Cye told the warlord as he lifted his yari. He felt his energy returned to him as he centered himself. With a deep breath Cye looked at Matlal, "I won't allow you to spread your disease and destruction anymore. Super Wave Smasher!"

Cye watched as the water joined his armor's wave of power and washed over the warlord. Matlal let out a yell that was soon garbled into a gurgle as the water went into his mouth and into his lungs.

As Cye's attack dissipated the Ronin began to worry that it wasn't enough, Matlal was still standing. He thought wrong though; Matlal suddenly dropped his spear then fell to the ground unconscious.

Cye let out a sigh of relief before he sank down into the water. He watched as blood washed off his armor from his wrist and floated down stream.

"Cye! Cye!" Cye looked over his shoulder and saw Kento and Sage running towards him.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, are you alright?" Kento asked as they approached his best friend.

Cye nodded, "nothing a little recharge in the water can't help."

"Cye… did you do that?" Sage asked as he noticed Matlal's collapsed body not too far away.

Cye looked over and nodded, "yea, turns out our armors really do hold more power."

The three took a moment in silence before Kento looked like he realized something out of nowhere.

"Where's Ryo and Rowen?" Kento suddenly asked.

"And Riska?" Sage added.

"Ryo is fighting Morpheus, they headed towards the palace. As for Rowen and Riska, I have no idea." Cye admitted. "But, I'm guessing they're in or around the palace as well. The warlords wanted to lure us there." Slowly he stood up; he held his yari at his side.

"Well, we shouldn't disappoint our guests. Let's go to the palace." Sage said with a nod.

The three Ronins headed towards the impending building before them that was no longer just the shell of the Tokyo Imperial Palace it was now the Nether Realm's palace in all its glory.


	23. Chapter 23

Rowen was blocking Riska's attacks as best he could, but he never made a move to fight back. As she swung her dagger as Rowen's face again he raised his bow to deflect the blade then push her back.

For a moment he was able to get about three feet of space between them.

"Riska! Riska, it's me, Rowen! Strata! C'mon, I know you're in there." Rowen called.

Light reflected off of Riska's pure black eyes but no recognition was within them.

"I'm not going to fight you Riska." Rowen said lowering his bow, "we're on the same side. You're the reason that the Ronins are even able to be here fighting against Zetsumei. Don't you remember?"

Riska was silent as she raised her hand as if to reach out for Rowen. Rowen's face softened, he felt hope that he was reaching out her to swell in his chest and he began to reach out for her in return. However, his face dropped along with his stomach as he watched a gray orb form in Riska's hand then she released it. Rowen didn't think he would be able to block this one; he closed his eyes and waited for the impact.

When he was met instead with a shrill scream from Riska he opened his eyes and saw that Sage was standing in front of him holding up his sword. Then in front of him both Cye and Kento began to battle against Riska.

"Sage, Kento, Cye." Rowen said with a relieved sigh.

"In need of some assistance?" Sage asked with a smile.

"I knew she was bad news!" Kento yelled as he swung his tetsubo at the girl.

"But, this doesn't make sense. Something's off." Cye called out as he blocked Riska's dagger with his man catcher.

"She's under Zetsumei's control; he possessed her with some kind of dark energy." Rowen explained quickly watching Riska with worry.

"No wonder you can't see her eyes anymore." Sage whispered.

Kento raised his tetsubo and began to call his armor's power to attack Riska with his sure kill.

"No! Kento! Don't hurt her! She's not in control of her actions, didn't you hear me!" Rowen called out as he ran past Sage and tackled Kento to the ground. They narrowly missed another orb coming from Riska.

"She seemed to be in control of that." Kento scoffed as he pushed Rowen off of him.

"Rowen's right Kento. Whoever that is, it isn't Riska anymore. Rowen, any ideas how to stop her?" Sage asked as Cye joined his side. Riska stood across the boys panting her black eyes looked at them intently.

Rowen shook his head, "I tried to call out to her, but that didn't work. It's like she doesn't even recognize anything around her and all she is focused on is killing."

"I'm afraid that maybe only defeating Zetsumei will help her now." Cye said sadly, "that or…"

"No, we are not going to hurt her." Rowen interrupted immediately knowing where Cye's thoughts were going.

"Well, we better find some way to subdue her for now, because here she comes again." Kento said as he jumped out in front of his friends to block Riska.

* * *

Ryo balanced on the edge of the palace's roof as he and Morpheus sized each other up. They had gone from the gardens and tumbled straight into the east wing of the palace until they burst through the roof again. Every time Ryo thought he had the upper hand and could take out Morpheus the warlord showed he still had another ace up his sleeve.

"I'm not going to let you or your master win." Ryo called out. "Even if I have to die to defeat you."

Morpheus let out a laugh, "brave words from a boy. You will never be able to defeat Emperor Zetsumei, but you are right about one thing. You will die."

Morpheus jumped from the roof ornament that he was standing on and went after Ryo.

The two warriors fought against each other as the power coming from their armors seemed to destroy everything they touched as they went along the roof. Ryo could feel his armor growing with power as he continued to defend himself against the warlord.

Finally, Ryo could feel his armor calling out to him to make his move. With a deep breath Ryo called upon his virtue of righteousness then he released it and watched a wave of red came off his armor and attacked Morpheus.

The warlord let out a yell as Ryo's power pushed him so that he slid against the roof tiles and lost his grip on his Morningstar along the way. When he came to a halt he lay on a pile of broken roof tiles and looked up to the sky.

"So that is the new power of the Ronin armors." He panted.

Ryo stood tall as he began to approach Morpheus who suddenly tried to scramble to get his weapon he had dropped. However, Ryo was faster and kicked the warlord general's Morningstar further away. Morpheus laughed as he looked up at Ryo.

"You have gained strength from our battle, Ronin. My master will be pleased when you two meet. But, I believe it's too late to help your friends." Morpheus mocked.

"What are you talking about? We have Yulie safely away from you all and my brothers in arms are probably defeating the others as easily as I am about to defeat you." Ryo said his eyes blazed with the fire from his armor.

"Emperor Zetsumei has a secret weapon that has been already unleashed. And that weapon will wipe out the other Ronins, for they are more powerful than any of us warlords." Morpheus insisted.

Ryo glared at the man before suddenly grabbing him to look him eye to eye, "who is it, stop being cryptic."

Morpheus showed a toothy grin revealing that he had blood in his mouth from fighting with Ryo.

"Riska."

Ryo's eyes widened and Morpheus began to laugh.

"She once again belongs to the Nether Realm and this time it's permanent. The only thing that will stop her is death and if I'm right your friend Rowen of Strata will never allow that and THAT will lead to their downfall."

Ryo shook his head as he looked down at his hands where he held his katanas. He didn't want to believe that Riska was lost to them.

"The Ancients… they would've protected her, made sure she couldn't succumb…"

"But The Ancients are all gone, even Lady Kayura is not in this world any longer." Morpheus stated.

"What did you do to Kayura?" Ryo demanded.

"We banished her and the previous warlords to a worm hole. They became pests for us and had to be taken care of. Now the powers of the Ancients are gone forever and there is nothing any of you can do."

Ryo looked up at the sound of metal scraping against the roof. He saw that Morpheus had gotten his hands back on his Morningstar while he was distracting Ryo. The warlord lifted it above his head to attack Ryo.

Acting quickly Ryo connected the hilt ends of his katanas and swung them above his head calling upon his armor's power.

"Night Crawler!" Morpheus called out.

"Flare Up Now!" Ryo swung his swords down feeling the waves of heat come off his sword as a blast of fire came from him and went after the warlord and his own blast.

As the smoke cleared Ryo saw that he had created a large hole in the roof of the palace. Slowly he walked over to the edge and looked down there was no sign of Morpheus anywhere.

As he caught his breath he heard the sound of a slow clap coming from behind him. Ryo turned around and froze as he watched a man with white hair and bright green eyes approach. It was his eyes that caught his attention the most, they were almost exactly like Riska's except for they held no sense of humanity behind them.

"Well done Ryo of Wildfire. I am honestly very impressed; this new armor of yours is nothing like the armor that was made from my father's. Whoever made it truly put a source of strength in it that cannot be compared with anything in the mortal realm. No wonder my sister had to come train you how to use it." The man said with an entertained tone.

"Zetsumei." Ryo breathed.

Zetsumei grinned, "I am glad that I do not have to do any introduction, that does waste precious time, and I am eager to kill you."

Ryo jumped back as Zetsumei suddenly had a black wave of power go after him.

* * *

The other Ronins had managed to put some distance between them and Riska after Sage collapsed a large stone marker in front of her. They were now making their way towards they could sense Ryo was at.

Suddenly Kento stopped and looked up as he sensed Ryo's final attack against Morpheus and a moment later he let out a gasp as he felt a source of energy that was so dark that it put Talpa to shame.

"Zetsumei." Rowen stated.

"He's… I've never felt anything like this before." Sage gasped.

"Talpa didn't even emit this much power." Cye observed.

"Cye!" Sage called out as he suddenly jumped and blocked Riska from successfully reaching Cye from behind.

Riska let out a roar of frustration that didn't sound human before she jumped at Sage.

Sage tried to block her attack but she still managed to get a cut in with her dagger. With a yell of pain Sage fell to his knees and brought his free hand up to his right eye.

"Sage!" Rowen yelled as he ran to his friend while Kento went after Riska. The two began to fight blow for blow.

"Sage, are you alright?" Cye asked joining Rowen.

"I… I'll be fine." Sage breathed as the Ronins saw blood come from between his fingers that covered his eye.

"Your blood… your eye." Rowen reached up and tried to pry Sage's hand from his face so that he could get a closer look.

"My eye's fine, it's superficial. She did manage to leave a good cut though." Sage said as he wiped the blood away slowly a deep three inch cut that went above and below Sage's eye. The blood was making it hard for him to open it.

Cye reach out and created a small stream of water that washed against Sage's face. When most of the blood washed away he stood up and looked at Rowen.

"I need to help Kento." He stated and ran to help his best friend.

Rowen looked back at Sage who was holding pressure against the cut again.

"I'm sorry." Rowen said.

"It's not your fault; I was the one who rushed in. And besides it was Riska who actually did it." Sage pointed out as he stood up.

"No, I'm sorry that I even allowed this to happen. I knew it wasn't smart for Riska and me to go in after Zetsumei alone, but I followed anyway."

Sage bumped Rowen with his elbow, "stop it, we cannot go into the past. We have to deal with what's going on in the present. This is not the time to allow regret to overcome us, besides, I'll be fine."

Rowen nodded then snapped back into focus when he heard a loud impact of armor against armor and a gasp from Riska.

Turning around he expected the worse, and saw Cye stood holding Riska's limp body in his arms as Kento stood behind her with his arms raised. Rowen ran to Cye and took Riska from him.

"Don't worry, we only knocked her out." Cye promised.

"Yea just took a good distraction and hard hit to the back of the head." Kento said looking at Riska with mixed feelings.

They watched as Riska's armor lit up then dissipated and with it her armor disappeared. It was a sign that she was truly knocked out cold to the point that the armor could find no way to stay on her.

Rowen nodded and looked at Kento and Cye to thank them when a loud crash just above them distracted them.

The Ronins yelled as they found themselves blown off the roof by a shockwave of power. They tumbled off the roof and into the courtyard below. As they fell Rowen lost his hold on Riska and watched as she got separated from him and fell to the ground with rubble falling around her.

As the Ronins slowly stood back up they found that Ryo had landed among them as well. He slowly stood up with a wince.

"Oh, hey guys. Just thought I'd drop by." He said with half smile.

"What was that?" Sage asked looking up.

"That was my power hitting Zetsumei's." Ryo stated, "It caused a shockwave. He's strong guys, much stronger than anything else we have come against."

The Ronins looked up to the sky and saw Zetsumei floating among the clouds. His black cape waved in the wind as he grinned down at the boys.

"Finally, I have you all in one place. This will make finishing you all off easier. Prepare to die Ronins." Zetsumei called out as he raised his sickle that he held in his left hand.

"What do we do now?" Kento asked as he got into a defensive stance along with Sage, Cye, and Rowen.

"We fight." Sage declared.

Rowen nodded as he notched an arrow and aimed for Zetsumei. He didn't wait for the others as he felt anger well up from thinking of what the emperor had done to Riska.

"Arrow Shock Wave!" Rowen yelled.

"Rowen, wait!" Ryo yelled out.

Rowen's sure kill cry was joined by the others, "Super Wave Smasher!" "Iron Rock Crusher!" "Thunder Bolt Cut!"

Their attacks were on target as they hit Zetsumei a large white blast burst as soon as it hit him. The boys smiled at each other, there was no way that their attacks didn't do damage to their enemy.

However, their smiles disappeared as the light and smoke cleared to reveal that Zetsumei had a protective bubble around him. The emperor of the Nether Realm began to laugh.

"Foolish children. Do you really believe you could defeat me? I am not my father; I am something else, something more powerful!"

"I was trying to tell you." Ryo whispered. The others turned to look at their unofficial leader. "He has power that none of the others we have been up against have. We can't defeat him, not with just our five armors."

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Kento asked.

"Yea, we can't let him win." Cye agreed.

Rowen lowered his bow as he kept his eyes on Zetsumei along with Sage who was finally starting to open his right eye as the blood slowed to a trickle.

"Riska told me at our camp that we may find ourselves in this very situation. She asked me to call upon the Inferno armor." Ryo said quickly.

Rowen and Sage both looked at Ryo at the same time.

"No way!" Kento yelled out.

"Absolutely not!" Cye shook his head.

"Didn't we destroy the armor?" Sage asked.

"Yea, along with our old armors." Rowen answered.

Ryo nodded, "yes, but remember that Suzunagi wanted us to call upon it? That's why she made these armors originally. According to Riska that the original Inferno Armor was destroyed with ours, but when Suzunagi created our new ones it in turn created a new Inferno Armor. It's tied to our armors' very existence and will be around as long as our armors are. Riska made me swear that I would call upon it if the time called for it. And I think this is a pretty loud call."

"The Inferno armor is corrupt, Ryo, and not to mention Suzunagi had revenge on her mind when she created our armors. There's no telling what the new Inferno Armor would be like." Sage stated.

"But, our armors were also created by innocence." Ryo pointed out, "Suzunagi had the understanding that she had as a child and when she created our armors part of that innocence that source of good went into them. Otherwise, our armors that we wear now would have swallowed us up into darkness by now."

"That's true." Rowen said thoughtfully.

"You've got to be kidding me. C'mon Rowen, there's no way we can call upon it." Kento insisted.

"What other choice do we have?" Cye asked with a sigh, he looked at Ryo. "You said that Riska asked you to do it right?"

Ryo nodded.

"Then I say we do it, we call upon the Inferno Armor." Cye said then looked up where Zetsumei floated above them with glee. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

"We die." Kento stated.

"Yes, but we'd die if we didn't call for it either." Sage sighed as he realized the truth.

Kento looked at his brothers at arms then up at Zetsumei. The emperor was laughing at them, mocking them that they couldn't seem to stand together as a team so how could they even think they could defeat him.

"Alright, let's do it." Kento said looking at Ryo as his armor began to glow with an orange light.

The other's armors began to glow as well as they all looked at Ryo. Ryo looked at his friends and nodded.

"Armor of Inferno!" Ryo called as the light from the other armors suddenly became bright and engulfed Ryo.

Zetsumei suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Ryo as he called up the Ronins mega armor.

"No, this is impossible. You all destroyed that armor!" He yelled as he was suddenly pushed back by a bright column of swirling lights of orange, red, green, light blue, and dark blue.


	24. Chapter 24

Ryo felt the power of the Inferno surround him then embrace his body like a glove. It was a familiar feeling that he could almost welcomed. He also felt new power, power of their new armors and it almost overwhelmed his senses.

"Ryo?" Cye's voice broke through the waves of power coursing through Ryo. It was then that he realized he had his eyes closed.

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at his friends. They looked at him in awe.

"How does it look?" Ryo asked.

"Amazing." Kento finally breathed after a brief silence.

The Ronins looked at the new Inferno Armor. The helmet took a similar shape to the last one but that was where the similarities ended. The armor took on the same look as their new Ronin armors, it looked like the armor of samurai past and the jacket that Ryo wore with this one was pure white and bore a large symbol of the Inferno on his back. The Swords of Fervor had returned and were now attached to Ryo's hip their hilts glistened as if they were brand new.

Ryo rolled his shoulders and looked up at Zetsumei and saw that the Emperor was seemingly frozen in place. He looked down at Ryo and the rest of the Ronins with pure hatred.

"What do you say that we have a real fight, Zetsumei?" Ryo called up.

Zetsumei's pupils constricted to small black dots and he began to descend. The Ronins stood behind Ryo in defensive stances. They knew that the powers of their armors were given to the Inferno armor, but they were still ready to fight.

"It is more honorable to fight on a level terrain. Let's go Ronin, show me what your beloved Inferno armor can really do." Zetsumei lowered his stance then coaxed Ryo forward with his hand.

Ryo pulled the Swords of Fervor out from their sheaths and twisted them around with his hands testing out their weight, they felt familiar to him. Then, with a deep breath he suddenly ran towards Zetsumei.

The emperor in turn began to run towards Ryo they both jumped into the air mid-way between them and met blade against blade, and so the final battle for the Mortal Realm began.

The other Ronins watched as their friend and the Emperor of the Nether Realm fought. They were amazed by the speed which they both moved.

As the battle began to get more intense they were surprised when Cye was suddenly blown back by an unseen attack.

Kento caught Cye and grunted as they both fell back.

Looking around Sage raised his sword while Rowen notched an arrow on his bow.

"What was that?" Kento asked helping Cye back up who winced when Kento tried to pull him up by his bad hand, since the power of Torrent went to Ryo nothing was holding back the hot waves of pain coming from the broken bone in his wrist.

"More like who was that?" Cye asked as he rubbed his sore wrist.

"It was me." Came a woman's cackle.

The four Ronins turned in unison to face Lady Yuki. She stood on top of a pile of rubble that had come from the roof.

"I don't know how you did it, but you managed to defeat all the other warlords." Lady Yuki hissed, her hair had broken from its braid and now spread all over her head likes a crazy rat's nest. The whites of her eyes were red and black circles surrounded the skin around them. "My master will kill your leader, but I will gladly kill the rest of you."

"Of course she chooses to attack when she knows that we don't have our power right now." Rowen growled.

No response came from Sage as he glared at Lady Yuki.

"What happened to your face, Halo? Did Souls do that to you?" Lady Yuki let out a laugh, "your pretty face is ruined now."

"You should learn to stop your yapping." Sage snarled.

"What are we going to do?" Kento asked as he and Cye came closer to Sage and Rowen.

"I'm going to defeat her once and for all, power or no power." Sage insisted raising his sword. He stopped though when he felt a hand on his bicep. Looking over he saw Rowen looking at him with a determined expression.

"No, we're going to defeat her, together."

Sage looked at Rowen then at Cye and Kento who nodded. Sage was silent then slowly nodded as well before letting out a small smile.

"Let's do this." He said then turned back to Lady Yuki.

The four Ronins raised their weapons then with a battle cry they attacked. Lady Yuki laughed as she raised her staff to call upon her power.

On the other side of the courtyard Ryo used both of his swords to stop Zetsumei's sickle from reaching his neck. With a downward stroke he de-tangled the blades then kicked Zetsumei square in the chest causing him to slide back a few yards.

Zetsumei stood back up and smiled at Ryo, "you are truly an impressive opponent; I haven't had a fight like this for centuries."

Ryo didn't answer as he raised his swords once more to face the Emperor.

"Too bad, you will still lose. Perhaps though, instead of me destroying your armors upon your deaths I will keep them instead. They will make fine trophy's, not to mention, it will be wonderful to see my sister's face when I allow her a moment out from my control to see the aftermath and see that she failed." Zetsumei twirled his sickle in his hand before raising it above his head. "Death March." He called.

Ryo watched as darkness suddenly surrounded both him and Zetsumei like a dome blocking out any view of the others. White lightning crashed above him and he jumped back as he dodge a bolt coming straight for him.

"What is this? I've never seen anything like this before." Ryo said to himself as he looked at Zetsumei. He saw that the Emperor's eyes had turned as white as his hair.

Sage blocked Lady Yuki's wormhole blast as it came barreling at him and the other Ronins. He grit his teeth as he felt the power from her blast pushing him back. As the energy blast began to dissipate he heard a whistle go past his ear as Rowen shot an arrow at Lady Yuki.

She caught the arrow by its shaft and laughed.

"You are so weak without your powers, Ronins. Killing you all may be too easy." She commented before she was suddenly hit from behind back Kento's tetsubo that he had taken apart so that he could attack from a distance. "Oomph."

Lady Yuki fell to a knee and watched as blood dripped from her neck. Before she could retaliate though she was suddenly attacked by Cye who used his man catcher to capture the gatekeeper by her wrist then he flipped over up and over him before she landed hard on the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of her lungs. As she looked up she watched as the four Ronins surrounded her.

"I will not allow you to defeat me." She breathed as she slowly got back up. It was then that she realized that she was no longer holding her staff. "What, where is it?" She demanded.

"Looking for this?" Sage asked as he held her staff up with his free hand.

"Give me my staff, Ronin, or I will show you no mercy." Lady Yuki threatened.

"You've already done that." Kento scoffed.

"You almost killed us a few times, but you were never successful." Cye added.

"Now it's time for your reign of terror to end." Rowen said.

"And we will get our revenge for what you did to Mia as well." Sage finished.

Lady Yuki let out a laugh, "You were the one who killed her! Perhaps you should look to yourself for revenge." She said to Sage, the others looked at him with shock.

"Sage, is it true? Is Mia dead?" Rowen asked in a whisper, but Sage didn't answer as he continued to look at Lady Yuki.

"And how do you plan on defeating me? You have no power!" Lady Yuki yelled out.

Sage looked at Lady Yuki's staff before he looked back at the gatekeeper, "we may not have power in our armors, but we have your staff. And your staff has power within it and that power isn't happy with you."

"What? How do you know about that?" Lady Yuki asked with wide eyes as she realized their plan.

"I read the scroll about you at Riska's safe haven. I read how you swore an oath to the gods, that you would protect time and space and never use it for personal use. It's time that the gatekeeper his fired from her position. You broke your oath, Lady Yuki, and now it's time you get what you deserve." Sage said as he lifted her staff then slammed it into the ground.

The staff reacted immediately; a bright light began to shine from the ornament on the top straight up briefly breaking up the black clouds above. Then just as quickly it changed directions and shot directly into Lady Yuki's chest.

The Ronins watched Lady Yuki scream then get pulled apart by a force that was unseen to them. Then suddenly she was gone and the gatekeeper staff fell silent.

"What...what just happened?" Kento asked as he slowly walked up to where Lady Yuki was just a moment ago. He saw no sign of her presence.

"The staff took her back to her dimension so that she could answer for her crimes." Rowen explained softly.

Sage let out the breath he had been holding; it was finally over for Lady Yuki she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else ever again.

"Sage is what Lady Yuki said the truth? Is Mia really dead?" Cye asked approaching his friend. Rowen joined Sage's side as Kento continued to try to find any signs left behind of Lady Yuki.

Sage looked down at his sword and saw his reflection. The cut over his right eye had stopped bleeding, but it would leave a permanent scar which he could easily still cover with his hair.

"Sage. Tell us what happened." Rowen told his friend.

"She was possessed by a Nether spirit and a very strong one too. It was just like how her grandfather has been possessed. I didn't see any other way to stop it and leave her body, and I knew that Mia wouldn't have wanted me to just let it defeat us.

So, I used my thunderbolt cut to attack, however at the last moment I redirected the attack hoping that it would only go for the spirit that was trying to escape her body before it hit. I hit the spirit and destroyed it... but part of my attack still hit Mia."

"Sage." Cye said sadly as he patted his friend on the shoulder.

"She didn't die Cye." Sage whispered.

"What?" Cye asked as he stopped moving and looked at Rowen.

"She's alive then?" Rowen asked amazed.

Sage nodded, "however... my attack… it… it went straight into her eyes and blinded her. I didn't kill Mia but I did maim her."

It was Rowen's turn to place his hand on Sage's other shoulder, "she will forgive you, Sage. She'll understand why you did what you did, you saved her life."

"Guys! Look up." Kento called out.

Cye, Rowen, and Sage looked up to where Ryo was fighting Zetsumei. They saw that a large black dome had surrounded the two and rippled with electrical energy.

"What is that?" Rowen asked in awe. No one answered him, no one had the answer.

From within in dome they could hear the clash of battle. However the sudden presence of Nether soldiers streaming into the courtyard distracted them as they once again raised their weapons to fight.


	25. Chapter 25

The Ronins knocked Nether soldiers down quickly, finding that even though they didn't have their armor's power they were still able to successfully keep the Nether soldiers at bay.

However, as the boys fought off Zetsumei's army they didn't notice that Riska had gotten up and climbed over the rubble. She didn't go back into her armor as she slowly walked over to the Ronins hunched over; her dagger was in her right hand hanging at her side. Her long black hair blocked her face including her eyes.

It wasn't until her foot crunched over some gravel that Cye looked over to her as he knocked down another Nether soldier.

"Riska?" He asked gently reaching out for her. Riska slowly looked up and Cye took a step back as he gazed into her pure black eyes.

Without hesitation Riska suddenly leaped at Cye and tackled him to the ground. The Ronins let out a unified yell as they realized what was happening. They tried to move in as Cye and Riska wrestled on the ground.

When Rowen got close his leg was met by Riska's dagger as she stabbed it into his thigh. He let out a yell as he fell back the hilt of the dagger stuck out of his armor.

Riska managed to then get the upper hand from Cye and grabbed his bad wrist. He grit his teeth as she held it then his eyes widened and he let out a gasp as Riska suddenly bent his hand in the wrong direction, he swore he could hear the rest of his bones in his wrist pop as they broke.

When Riska released him Cye fell to the ground and curled up cradling his wrist close to his chest. His vision became like a tunnel as the edge of unconsciousness.

Riska flipped out of the way as Kento swung his tetsubo at her. She then flipped over to Rowen and ripped her dagger back out of his leg causing him to let out another yell. He grabbed his leg to try to compress it as he looked at Riska who finally landed gracefully about ten feet away from him.

"Riska, please. This isn't who you are, please; I know you're in there." He begged he blocked a swing from a Nether soldier.

Sage ran over to Rowen and took out the soldier for him then looked down at his friend. "Rowen! Shoot her with your bow and arrow, you have the shot!"

The Nether soldiers seemed to be thinning out, or simply waiting to see what Riska was going to do.

Riska looked between the Ronin's as if she was deciding who to attack next. Rowen was frozen, he couldn't do it, and he wouldn't do it.

"I can't Sage, I won't risk killing her." Rowen replied desperately.

"I think that that might be the only way at this point. She's not in there Rowen, there's nothing human left in her." Sage said as he raised his sword, then with a cry he ran at Riska.

Rowen watched as his friend reached Riska and swung his sword. No one saw when she jumped in the air then landed easily on the edge of Sage's sword. Sage couldn't move fast enough to avoid her as she suddenly jumped and kicked his head to the side.

Sage fell to the ground dropping his sword as he went.

"Sage!" Rowen yelled. Sage replied with a moan then grunted as Riska kicked him in the gut.

It was Kento's turn to attack Riska before she could finish his friend off. Kento separated his tetsubo and whipped the end towards his former Ronin ally.

He was surprised though when Riska dodged the blades then grabbed his weapon at the base. Time froze for a moment then she suddenly jerked the weapon towards her causing Kento to come flying in her direction, taking out a row of Nether soldiers as he went.

When he came close she waited until she was able to elbow Kento in the middle of his back. Kento gasped as he fell on top of Sage who grunted at the impact.

"You're heavy." Sage said before he and Kento had to both untangle and quickly roll out of the way as Riska came at them with her dagger once more.

Rowen was slowly working his onto one knee; he let his leg that Riska stabbed hold the least amount weight underneath him. He reached over his back to grab an arrow and notched it. He took a deep breath as he aimed for Riska, following her as she dodged another swing from

Sage's sword then flipped over Kento's head causing his two friends to hit each other instead by accident. Rowen watched as the tip of the arrow shook from his hands being unable to stay steady.

"C'mon Rowen, c'mon, she's going to kill you all if you let her." He muttered to himself feeling as fear filled his chest.

Kento slowly got up and saw that Sage wasn't doing the same. The last hit combined from the likeliness that he had a concussion from Riska kicking his head had knocked him out cold. Riska began to move towards Sage to finish him off.

Kento quickly looked around then grabbed a rock and threw it at Riska, it hit her leg. She looked down then back up at Kento; her solid black eyes gave him a shiver.

"Hey, Riska, come finish your fight with me. Or are you too afraid you can't beat me." Kento called as he stood up; as he did he grabbed his tetsubo and put it back together as a solid staff again. He then lowered himself into a defensive stance.

Riska took one more look at Sage before she changed her direction to walk towards Kento. Her hair swung in front of her face the wind that suddenly came from the dome that Ryo and Zetsumei were fighting in burst apart.

Ryo and Zetsumei landed on opposite sides of the courtyard. The Ronins were to Ryo's left while Zetsumei saw them to his right. Ryo was panting trying to catch his breath; blood had dripped down the corner of his mouth. Zetsumei still stood tall but blood was dripping from his left hand from a wound unseen under his armor.

Zetsumei let out a laugh as he spotted Riska facing Kento as the other Ronins laid or knelt scattered around the ground.

"Look at your friends, Wildfire. They will be dead soon as well as you, and by the hands of one of your own. This is glorious!" Zetsumei laughed.

Ryo looked at his friends with horror, it was his fault. It felt like when he first donned the Inferno armor, he knew it was his fault that they had no power to have a fair fight against Riska.

Kento looked to Ryo trying to urge him on and not worry about him and the others. Because he was distracted for just that second he didn't notice until it was too late as Riska suddenly jumped into the air and came flying down towards him prepared to stab her dagger into his neck.

Ryo let out a yell for his friend knowing he couldn't reach him in time while Kento felt his life flash before his eyes. Everything came into focus as he thought of growing up with all his siblings, to first getting his armor, to meeting his friends. He couldn't take his eyes off Riska though as he watched her get closer, he still tried to bring his tetsubo up in an attempt to block her.

Kento was surprised when Riska suddenly stopped with her dagger's blade only a hair from his neck, her arm was extended leaving a gap between them. It took him a moment to realize that Rowen had managed to get between him and Riska, he was crouched with his hand holding the shaft one of his arrows up in front of her.

Riska let out a breath as she looked down at her chest to see that Rowen had stabbed her near her heart. The blood began to soak her shirt as she dropped her dagger, it bounced harmlessly off Kento as it went down. As the dagger clanged against the ground the black in her eyes slowly began to dissipate. Rowen watched as they returned to their original bright green and Kento saw what looked like black mist leave Riska's body and float up into the air disappearing.

Zetsumei began to laugh wickedly, "This is even better than I could have planned. Who would have guessed that Strata would end up killing his own lover?"

Ryo looked at Zetsumei with a glare, "it's time for you game to end." With a running start Ryo leaped into the air and pulled his Fervor swords together connecting them by the hilts. Then with a wide swing his yelled, "Rage of Inferno!"

Zetsumei growled as he lifted his sickle in an attempt to block Ryo's attack.

Meanwhile, Riska slowly began to sink down to the ground. Rowen released his hold on the arrow and caught her in his arms to gently lower her until he held her in his lap.

Riska coughed up blood and looked around her as if she was confused then focused on Rowen; she slowly reached up to touch his face as if she was checking if he was real. Rowen placed his hand over Riska's.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Riska." He repeated in a whisper.

Kento looked down at the girl who was just trying to kill him only moments before. He was at a loss of words, he shook with anger. She had almost killed him but Rowen had moved so quickly and gotten in front of him before he could process what was going on. Now it was his friend that had the blood of their guardian on his hands.

Kento let out a cry letting his fury out. This was all Zetsumei's fault, he was the one who caused Mia and Riska to attack them and for Yulie to lay dying with disease.

Kento's eyes became blurry as tears came to them, he raised his weapon to block more Nether soldiers that were coming into the courtyard and tried to get to Riska and Rowen.

"I'm so sorry." Rowen continued to whisper barely acknowledging the oncoming Nether soldiers.

Riska tried to swallow in order to get her voice back, but it hurt. She knew that one of her lungs had collapsed and blood and fluid were beginning to fill her chest cavity.

"No… you did… what you had to." Riska finally got out, "thank you." She closed her eyes.

Rowen quickly began to shake her shoulder, "no, Riska wake up."

Riska responded by opening her eyes a crack once more to look at Rowen.

"You can't leave us, you can't leave me… I won't let you." Rowen told her as he watched her lips turn blue.

He reached over and grabbed the shaft of the arrow; he had to get it out of her. Without overthinking it he quickly jerked the arrow out. This caused Riska to let out a scream and almost lift out of Rowen's arms. She collapsed back into them a moment later coughing up more blood.

Sage woke up with a start and looked around him. Nether soldiers were edging towards him and he saw that Kento was fighting off another group that was trying to get to Rowen who… had Riska in his arms? What did he miss? Slowly he got up picking up his sword as he did, as the Nether soldiers came near he began to fight them off again the best he could.

Cye rolled out of the way as a Nether soldier tried to spear him where he lay.

"C'mon Torrent, get up." Cye said giving himself a mental pep talk. With a wince and biting his lip he picked himself up from the ground then picked up his man catcher with his good hand.

Nether soldiers approached Cye to try to overwhelm him, it was starting to work. He tried to balance his man catcher in his hand as he spun around and swung his weapon at the nearest Nether soldier. He was successful in knocking it down but another quickly took its place.

Before Cye could try to back up to get some space to attack again he was joined by Sage. Together they fought side by side as Nether soldier after Nether soldier came after them.

"How is she?" Kento called over his shoulder as he knocked another Nether soldier down.

"Not good." Rowen replied sadly. He gently moved hair out of Riska's face; she was watching him closely as if trying to memorize his face.

"You can't quit living, Riska!" Kento said as he swung his tetsubo. "You have to keep going."

Riska glanced in Kento's direction before looking back at Rowen.

Across the courtyard parts of the ground were on fire still from Ryo's attack in the Inferno armor. He watched as Zetsumei struggled to get back up.

"Foolish Ronins, I will not be defeated as easily as my father. I will take you all down with me before I die." He claimed.

"You can try." Ryo yelled as he sent another wave of power towards the emperor.

Zetsumei let out a yell while he sent out his own wave of black electric power.

As their attack met in the middle a struggle of strength began between the two.

The Ronins were finally able to beat back enough Nether soldiers that their enemy began to retreat. When they were sure that it was clear enough Sage and Cye ran to where Kento, Rowen, and Riska were.

Sage joined Rowen's side looking down at the girl in his arms; she returned his look her eyes softened.

"I forgive you Riska." Sage said.

"I do too." Cye added as he stood next to Kento.

"We all do." Kento added last.

Riska let out a small smile before coughing up a little more blood gasping for air as she did. The Ronins looked away ashamed that they couldn't help her. Looking up they saw the struggle between Ryo and Zetsumei.

"This is it guys. If Ryo can't beat Zetsumei, we've lost." Cye whispered.

Sage and Kento nodded in silent agreement.

"It was good to fight alongside of you all again." Rowen whispered as he held Riska close.

"Rowen." He jumped and looked down at Riska who had spoken.

"Save your breath, Riska. Please, I don't want you to make your injury worse." He begged knowing full well that it couldn't get much worse; he just wanted some comfort for her.

"Rowen, help me up. Please." Riska whispered her voice sounded as if it was being dragged against sandpaper. "Help me up so that I can send Zetsumei and his followers… to the Void. I'm the only one left with enough power to help... Ryo."

"No," Rowen said quickly, "you'll die if you do that."

"I'm going to… die… anyway." Riska told Rowen forcing him to face the truth.

Rowen slowly nodded and looked up at Sage who understood. Slowly they both lifted Riska up until Rowen was able to get a good hold on Riska in his arms. He held her close as her legs could no longer hold her up on their own.

"Are you sure?" He asked gently.

"Yes." Riska said.

The Ronins watched as Riska's virtue finally showed itself on her forehead. A light purple light lit up the kanji symbol for 'hope.'

"Life." Rowen whispered as his virtue appeared.

The others virtues appeared as well, giving Riska strength.

"Trust."

"Wisdom."

"Justice."

Across the courtyard Ryo's virtue of 'righteousness' lit up as well.

"What is this?" Zetsumei demanded as he held onto his power against Ryo's. He looked at Riska, "what are you trying to do, sister? You cannot destroy me!"

"No, but I can send you where you belong." Riska murmured as she raised her hand. Her whole body lit up to a glow of purple as she called upon an ancient spell to open the portal to the Void.

The black hole opened behind Zetsumei, panic filled the emperor's eyes as he tried to hold on.

"It's time for you go." Ryo called then with one more push of energy his attack pushed Zetsumei's attack out of the way and pushed him into the black Void.

Zetsumei let out a yell as he disappeared until he was silenced by the darkness.

It was silent for a moment before a gust of wind came from the black hole.

Riska held her hand up steady as Rowen held her. The other Ronins gripped what they could to keep hold as Nether soldiers, spirits, the fallen warlords, and all else that Zetsumei had brought into the world was sucked into the black hole that led to the Void.

They watched as Morpheus was the last to enter the hole, watching in horror as the black hole sucked him in without him being able to do anything about it.

Then just as quickly as the Void was there, it was gone. Riska dropped her hand and sunk in Rowen's arms, no longer having any energy left.

Rowen sunk slowly to his knees looking at her. Her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to be breathing. He wanted to let out a cry or shed a tear but nothing came as he looked at her.

"She saved us all." Kento whispered.

Ryo shed the armor of Inferno and joined his friends. Along with the rest of the Ronins they surrounded Rowen and Riska bowing their heads.

* * *

Across the city Yulie let out a gasp as he felt the heavy weight of his sickness leave his body. He took in a deep breath feeling relieved that the air felt cool and clean, it was amazing. As he pulled himself up into a sitting position he looked out the nearby windows and saw that the black clouds in the sky were fading and the blue sky of the late afternoon took its place.

"What's going on, Yulie?" Mia asked, she sat on the ground next to White Blaze. Her hand rested in the tiger's fur as a security blanket. Her eyes were surrounded by a red rash from a burn; it looked like a mask to Yulie. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Yulie answered happily, "I'm ok, the disease, it's gone. And the sky… they won Mia. The Ronin Warriors won."

Mia smiled, "I knew they could do it."


	26. Epilogue

Rowen shifted on the hard plastic chair in the hall of the hospital. He held his crutch in his hands in front of him, he playing with the cushioned top taking it off then putting it back on or taking it off and bending or stretching it. His leg was wrapped with gauze and coban wrap underneath his jeans covering where fifteen stitches closed up his stab wound.

The doctors were amazed that it was a clean cut and didn't show any signs of infection. He wasn't going to tell them how he got it either. As far as they knew he and the rest of the Ronins were a group of very lucky teens who just happened to end up being prisoners in the palace when the mysterious attack occurred in Tokyo and managed to escape.

It didn't take long for doctors and emergency crews to swarm the city of Tokyo after Zetsumei and his lackeys all disappeared. They were waiting on the borders of the city for the first chance they could to get past the boundaries set up by the soldiers that Zetsumei had under his control. The soldiers would have to face military court to answer for their actions that they would never explain, but they were alive and that's what mattered.

In the room behind Rowen, Cye was finishing getting a cast on his wrist. The doctors had to set his wrist and told him that he'd be lucky to have it return to 100%, however, Cye knew that he would just need to visit the Sea of Toyama when he got the next chance and his armor's powers would do the rest. He nodded absently as the nurse went through the rules of how to take care of his broken wrist and handed him a bottle of pain killers.

Sage had been seen to then released within the first hour of them being in the care of the medical teams. They cleaned the cut over his eye that Riska had given him and checked his concussion but Sage had argued with them until they allowed him to leave insisting that if he got worse he was to come straight back. Kento, who had the least amount of wounds, left with him.

Cye, Rowen, and Ryo didn't stop them. They had agreed that someone had to go find Mia and Yulie to make sure they were ok.

Ryo was waiting for Cye and Rowen the floor above where they were. His shoulder had swelled from the stab wound he received from Mia and the doctors had insisted on taking a closer look at it as soon as they reached the hospital.

Rowen felt numb as he waited for Cye, the only thing that went through his head was Riska's face and her blood on his hands. It wasn't until Cye touched his shoulder that he stopped playing with his crutch and got up.

Cye led the way slowly as they walked through the crowded hall. Everyone who had been in the buildings that Matlal had filled with the diseased was there, as well as many others that had been become temporary prisoners of the Nether Realm. Families were crying as they were reunited or received news that a family member didn't make it.

The boys were silent and tried not to focus on the commotion around them. Their thoughts were elsewhere. Once in the elevator Rowen let out a sigh and leaned against the wall of the small box. Cye reached out to place a hand on Rowen's shoulder to let him know he was there.

When they made it to the next floor they both stepped out and were met by silence. The floor was calm and filled with cold silence. Slowly the two Ronins made their way down the hall, past the nurse's station until they made it to the last room on the left. Looking in the window they could see Ryo sitting on the bed in the room.

Cye and Rowen entered the room causing Ryo to look up at his friends. They saw the bandages that were wrapped around his shoulder underneath his shirt where it crept up his neck.

"What took you two so long?" Ryo asked.

"Doctors insisted on giving me detailed instructions for care." Cye replied as he moved around the curtain to join Ryo, he grew silent as he came around the corner.

Rowen was the last to come around the curtain he looked down at the floor not sure if he was ready to see what was on the other side. When he finally did look up he froze.

Blankets nestled the person in the bed like it was a nest as the angle of the bed kept them in a sitting position. An EKG machine beeped softly next to the bed as it monitored their heart. Riska looked up at Rowen, she looked exhausted but alive. Her cheeks were rosy again and her lips had regained their color, a nasal cannula was set up to make breathing easy for her. Also next to the bed an IV was hooked up to give Riska fluids.

"Hi." She whispered her voice was still hoarse.

"Doctors said she'll make a full recovery." Ryo said with a smile, "she'll need to stay here a few days to stay stable though."

"Your modern medicine is amazing." Riska commented. "Rowen?"

Rowen hadn't stopped staring at Riska since he realized that she was very much alive and very much awake. He was convinced that when the paramedics had taken her away from his arms that they were either going to tell him that she was hooked up to life support or was dead.

"Riska." He breathed and walked up to Riska as Cye moved out of the way and leaned down to her. Their lips touched softly for a kiss, their first kiss. Cye and Ryo turned their heads away with smiles on their faces.

* * *

After a few hours Cye left the hospital to go let Sage and Kento know about Riska. Ryo and Rowen stayed behind talking to Riska about their fight with Zetsumei and getting to know Riska more.

The window in the hospital room was open to allow the cool calming summer breeze in, along with the sounds of birds returning to the city and people beginning the process of restoring their beloved city.

They were surprised when they had another visitor as the sun began its warm descent for the evening.

Riska was taking a light nap as Rowen held her hand. He and Ryo had turned on the television to watch the news, the anchor was just showing sweeps of the city when they heard the door open.

Ryo looked at Rowen who shrugged; they thought it was one of their friends coming in. It made them nearly jump out of their seats as Kayura came around the curtain dressed in modern casual clothes.

"Kayura." Ryo said standing up. "I thought…we thought…"

"Thanks to you and the rest of the Ronins you once again freed me and the other warlords from the Nether Realm. Upon Lady Yuki being sent back to her homeland and Zetsumei being sucked into the Void with his evil powers we were released from the wormhole we were sent to." Kayura explained then looked to Riska who had woken up and silently watched Kayura. "You have done well, Riska of Souls. As the sole representative of my clan and the present Ancient, I thank you. However, we have a new problem."

"What is it?" Rowen asked standing up as well.

"There is no longer a gatekeeper to watch the channels between dimensions. Soon creatures and beings from other worlds will realized it and I believe another war will begin. The balance has been tipped, and until it can be restored with the installment of a new gatekeeper chaos will begin. The mortal realm may be in danger again."

"We'll protect it. Just like we're meant to as the Ronin Warriors." Ryo swore immediately.

Rowen nodded, "we'll make sure that nothing happens to it."

Kayura nodded and looked at Riska.

"I will ensure that we restore the balance of the worlds and find the new gatekeeper." Riska promised.

"Good because a new journey will begin soon. Be prepared Ronins." Kayura warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To Be Continued In "The Past Unwinding"...


End file.
